
Class_IBSi^5'k 
Book .H^ 



CojpghtN^ 

COFVRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



A LOOK THROUGH THE 
LENS OF PROPHECY; 

OR, 

WHAT DANIEL SAW 
AND HEARD. 



BY 

JAS. A. DE MOSS, M. D., 

THAYER, KAN.. 

Author of "From Patmos to the Holy City; or, The Ages 
Foretold;" also "Kansas Zephyrs," etc. 



" We look for the Saviour, ".? Urd Jesi'L Oirist."- Piul. 



CINCINNATI 

THE STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY 

190s 






LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

JAN 7 1904 

CLASS '^ kXc. No. 

/= •! t w- 3 

'copy S 



CJopyrighted, 1903, 
By The Standabd Publishing Company. 



s 



DeMcation* 

TO MY WIFE, 

Who has shared with me the loss and gain of life; whose patience^ 
sympathy and forbearance have helped to lighten the toils 
and burdens borne, and whose song of hope and joy 
dispels despair and gloom, and fits the soul to 
enter on lifers way with buoyant hope and 
cheer. To her, my helper, worthy of 
the name, this volume I sacred- 
ly and tenderly inscribe. 



INTKODUOTION. 

Having given a treatise on the Book of Revelation, 
it is essential it should be followed by one on Daniel, 
since the two books are similar in their calculations 
of the events of the church's progress, the consum- 
mation of the plans and purposes of God, the resur- 
rection from the dead, and the destiny of the world. 

Because of the harmony, therefore, existing be- 
tween the two books, and the study of the one assists 
us to a more perfect understanding of the other, they 
are inseparable, and a study of the one must be sup- 
plemented by the study of the other. The one is 
largely the complement of the other. 

In our work on Revelation it will be found that 
several demonstrations are taken from Daniel for the 
purpose of elucidation, which could not otherwise be 
made clear. The natural inquiry would then be. 
What more may be offered by Daniel of profit and 
interest to the student of the Word? Herein we 
have ventured to give the results of our labors along 
the line of further prophetic research, and if the 
reader finds help from its pages, we shall feel suffi- 
ciently justified in our undertaking to disclose its 

hidden truths of prophecy. 

The Author. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. PAGE 
Daniel's Captivity 9 

CHAPTER n. 
Nebuchadnezzar's Great Image 15 

CHAPTER m. 
The Golden Image; or, The God of Wealth 30 

CHAPTER ly. 
Nebuchadnezzar's Insanity— His Proclamation Also 37 

CHAPTER V. 
Belshazzar's Dream— The Fall of Babylon 46 

CHAPTER YI. 

Daniel's Deliverance 67 

CHAPTER VH. 
From Babylon to Christ; or, Daniel's Vision of the Ages 75 

CHAPTER Vni. 

When Shall the Sanctuary be Cleansed? — A Vision of the 
Time of Indignation; or, From Alexander to Christ's 
Supremacy 95 

CHAPTER IX. 

Time Determined for the Bringing in of Everlasting Right- 
eousness; or, The First Coming of Christ Foretold in 
Years 102 

CHAPTER X. 
Historic Recitations; or. The Vision of History 112 

CHAPTER XI. 
Daniel xii 154 

A Chapter on the Jew 168 

6 



PREFACE. 

The reader who looks for any word voicing the 
opinions of the "destructive critics," or one advanc- 
ing some new brand of criticism on the market of 
unbelief, by way of introduction to our studies of 
Daniel, will be disappointed. The writer is but a 
babe in matters of faith. He takes the book as he 
finds it. It is given to the world by a servant of 
God. It is an historic and prophetic book. It 
comes from the one pen in the hand of Daniel. By 
our analysis we can find no place for a change of 
authorship in its historic narrative, or in its pro- 
phetic vision. It came to the man most interested 
in God and the Jewish race, when that race was 
exiled, and God's promises for its future and it-s 
safety seemed to be withdrawn. 

Here the great soul of Daniel went out inquir- 
ingly to God, and it came back freighted with truth 
and life and hope. No other writer, contempora- 
neous with or subsequent to Daniel, could have 
been in a position to ask and to receive so much 
from God, either in his eventful experiences, or the 
words of the book he gave us. 

We have endeavored to understand this little 
book. We have studiously analyzed it in its his- 
toric and prophetic character. The sum of our 
efforts is enclosed in this narrow compass. It is 



8 Preface* 

the author's hope it may lend dignity to the Word, 
in that it may lead minds of doubt and unbelief to 
view the fulfillments of prophetic utterances, and 
thus discern the origin and source of its message. 
This done, we have honored Christ. For "the tes- 
timony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." With 
the testimony in hand, any thoughtful soul should 
view the cross with reverence, and render obedient 
service to the Author of the world's salvation. 

J. A. D. 



A LOOK THROUGH THE LENS 
OF PROPHECY. 



CHAPTER I. 
Daniel^s Captivity. 

(Dan. i.) 

Eliakim was a wicked king, like most of his 
predecessors, which made Israel to err and to turn 
from God, bringing the awful punishment of cap- 
tivity upon his race, with the overthrow of their 
government, the destruction of their capital city, 
the looting and destruction of their holy temple, 
the wasting of their national resources, and forever 
marring the history of the Jewish kingdom, once 
glorious and powerful, and brilliant in its adminis- 
tration of wisdom, equity and justice. 

Pharo Necho, king of Egypt, enthroned Eliakim 
in the room of his brother, whom he deposed and 
carried into Egypt and changed his name from 
Eliakim to Jehoiakim. Jehoiakim reigned eleven 
years in Jerusalem, and his reign extended from 
609 to 598 B. C. 

"In the third year of his reign" (v. 5), Nebu- 
chadnezzar, son of Nebopolassar, king of Chaldea, 
and general of the Chaldean army, came against 
Jerusalem. Jehoiakim fell into the hands of the 
Chaldeans. A truce was formed and Jehoiakim 
continued to reign in Jerusalem. But Nebuchad- 
nezzar "carried some of the royal family to Baby- 



10 A Look Through the 

Ion as hostages, among whom were Daniel and his 
three companions" — Hananiah, Mishael and Aza- 
riah — "with part of the vessels of the house of 
God'' (v. 2). 

Jehoiakim proved to be a truce-breaker. Neb- 
uchadnezzar returned to Jerusalem. Jehoiakim 
was taken and dishonored ; he was killed and "bur- 
ied with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth 
beyond the gates of Jerusalem." — Jeremiah. 

Nebuchadnezzar made Jehoiachin successor to 
his father Jehoiakim. He reigned three months 
and ten days. Nebuchadnezzar, becoming alarmed 
lest he should seek to avenge his father's death, re- 
turned to Judah and "carried away all Jerusalem, 
and all the princes, and all the mighty men of 
valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the 
craftsmen and all the smiths; none remained save 
the poorest sort of the people of the J and." "And 
he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon." "And he 
carried out thence all the treasures of the house 
of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house, 
and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solo- 
mon king of Israel had made in the temple of the 
Lord." 

Whereupon he "made Mattaniah, the brother of 
Jehoiakim, king in his stead, and he changed his 
name to Zedekiah." He rebelled and did wickedly, 
and Babylon's king returned and took the city of 
Jerusalem in the eleventh year of Zedekiah. Zede- 
kiah was taken bound to Babylon. "The pillars of 
brass, the bases and the brasen sea, the pots, the 
shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, all the vessels of 
brass wherewith they ministered, the firepans, the 



Lens of Prophecy. 11 

basons, all the gold and silver likewise, the captain 
of the guard took to Babylon." "He burnt the 
house of the Lord and the king's house, and all the 
houses of Jerusalem, even every great house he 
burnt with fire." "He brake down the walls of 
Jerusalem round about." 

Daniel, as indicated above, was taken with the 
first hostages to Babylon, 606 B. C, from Jerusa- 
lem; and very probably was put at once in the 
king's school, under the master of eunuchs, as one 
in whom "was no blemish, but were favored, and 
skillful in wisdom and cunning knowledge, and 
understanding science, and such as had ability to 
stand in the king's palace; and that he should 
teach them the learning and the tongue of the 
Chaldeans" (v. 4). 

For them, that they may fare well and excel in 
learning, Nebuchadnezzar — now king of Babylon 
— prescribed the dietary of his own table (v. 5) 
during their tutelage of three years. The meat 
and drink of the Israelite was a vital question of 
conscience, it having been prescribed in their sacred 
law. The decree, so essentially in conflict with the 
precepts early taught in the training of the pious 
Jew, and seeking to force these four young men to 
become obedient to the king's will in the matter of 
food, was at once not only abhorred by their con- 
scientious minds as unclean, but as well for the 
abolition of the divine law enjoined upon them. 
The operation of the Jewish law, as pertaining to 
the individual, was intended to be practical, wher- 
ever the life of the Jew should be cast ; but, being 
of divine origin, it was essential it should be obeyed 



12 A Look Through the 

though it jeopardized the life of its subject, when 
even exposed to the tyranny of a hateful or ma- 
licious potentate. Consequently its cancellation or 
abrogation could not be entertained by the enlight- 
ened and righteous Jew. 

As between honoring God and man, Daniel, in 
his disinclination to obey the king's decree, out of 
the inventive genius of his soul cautiously prof- 
fered to his "master" a comparative test for excel- 
lence along the line of the desired betterment of 
physical strength and beauty and mental tone, pit- 
ting the Jewish prescription against the Chaldean 
dietary. Daniel asked for but ten days' trial in 
which he and his three companions may eat the 
vegetable and cereal foods of the field, and drink 
nature's pure crystal fluid, while others of the 
school should eat the king's dainties and drink the 
king's wines. The scheme was successful. The 
trial was given. The albuminous food from the 
fields, in solution with nature's drink, performed 
no miracle upon the young men. The miracle was 
in the law of health. The law was given of God. 
The Being who framed man knew the requirements 
of that frame. By the law of appropriation, the 
very needs of the body were satisfied under the 
Jewish system; injurious elements did not pass 
through the channels of life, hence they were not 
marred by their invasion. But let us fancy we see 
the "other children" of Judah in attendance in this 
school at the conclusion of these days, showing evi- 
dences of excess and debauchery; for, being not 
addicted to "high living," they would very natu- 



Lens of Prophecy. 13 

rally be precipitated to excess, if yielding at all to 
disobedience of the law of God (vs. 5-16). 

Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah had 
substituted for their names that of Belteshazzar, 
Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego by the prince 
of eunuchs. 

By virtue of loyalty and obedience to the law 
of God, in the selection of food and drink, the nat- 
ural development of mind, feeding upon the plain 
food of nature, is ten times (v. 20) better than the 
intemperate, unnatural elements which constituted 
the meats and drinks of the princes of Babylon, and 
which are indicative of the foods of worldliness 
and vice, as attested here in the world's own court. 
For the accumulation of wisdom and knowledge, 
let it be remembered, the human mind must feed 
upon the plain and wholesome diet, such as meets 
its requirements, and not upon those elements 
which breed unrest, awaken passion and stultify 
thought. Here is a notable proof of this opinion; 
but tens of thousands of sober, frugal youths from 
homes of industry and toil, subsisting upon com- 
mon and farinaceous foods, have as often demon- 
strated the same. 

Beside the natural growth of mind and physical 
development of body in these four loyal Jewish 
boys, in answer to their obedience to the laws of 
health and reverence and respect for the dignity 
of divine law, though exiled in a foreign court, 
"God gave them knowledge and skill in all learn- 
ing and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding 
in all visions and dreams" (v. 17), and became his 
prophet in Babylon, a prophet interesting not to 



14 A Look Through the 

his race alone, but to all the world. The element of 
his proficiency, and which led to his promotion, and 
later to the preservation of his life, is compre- 
hended in the one word "loyalty." 

And Daniel continued in life, in favor and in 
counsel until Cyrus (v. 21). 

PROPHETIC PSALM. 

(Ps. cxxxvii.) 

1 By the rivers of Babylon, 

There we sat down, yea, we wept. 
When we remembered Zion. 

2 Upon the willows in the midst thereof 
We hanged up our harps. 

For there they that led us captive required of us songs. 
And they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying^ 
Sing us one of the songs of Zion. 

4 How shall we sing the Lobd's song 
In a strange land? 

5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, 

Let my right hand forget her cunning, 

6 Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. 
If I remember thee not; 

If I prefer not Jerusalem 
Above my chief joy. 

7 Remember, O Lord, against the children of Edom 
The day of Jerusalem; 

Who said. Rase it, rase it. 
Even to the foundation thereof. 

8 O daughter of Babylon, that art to be destroyed; 
Happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee 

As thou hast served us. 

9 Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones 
Against the rock. 



Lens of Prophecy. 15 



CHAPTER II. 

Nebuchadnezzar^s Great Image. 

(Dan. ii.) 

Nebuchadnezzar is now king of Babylon in his 
second year (v. 1). By the arm of the military 
he had conquered Egypt, Phoenicia, Judah and the 
whole of Palestine. He began his reign as king 
about 604 B. 0. In subduing Palestine he had been 
a scourge in the hand of Deity for its correction. 
This rebellious, stubborn Israel was his peculiar 
treasure, but he humiliated it in defeat that he 
might again restore and exalt it, that he might 
make it holy and worthy its station amid the king- 
doms of the world, and that his name may be hon- 
ored in Zion. 

Being made rich and powerful by these splendid 
and victorious conquests, Nebuchadnezzar now oc- 
cupied the position as sole ruler of the known 
world. God sought to remind him of his responsi- 
bility by dreams and visions, which he caused to be 
unraveled and applied, by his most loyal subject — 
Daniel. This was done, no doubt, primarily to 
lead the king into righteousness, that he may rule 
in equity and judgment, guided by the principles of 
divine justice. Secondly, to stimulate interest and 
awaken expectation on the part of the Hebrews, 
and that by them the chart of time (as viewed by 
inspired prophecy) might be given to the world. 



16 A. Look Through the 

In this first dream of the king there appeared 
a wonderful figure; but it was lost to memory 
and the vision did not recur. The startling im- 
pression, however, made upon the mind of Nebu- 
chadnezzar gave deep anxiety concerning the im- 
portance of the omen. The power of the reproduc- 
tion of his dream, or a re-creation of the mental 
imagery, seemed to have left him, and in his per- 
plexity he failed to develop the wonderful picture 
from the fragmentary thoughts that lay in the 
wreck of confused and faded ideas which remained 
to him. In his revery and delirium, he called to his 
aid the magicians, enchanters and Chaldeans. 
These several classes represented a similar calling 
or profession, taking their titles, no doubt, agree- 
ably to the assignment given them in the various 
countries they represent, retaining the same in the 
court of the king of Babylon. "They pretended to 
be interpreters of secret things, the past and the 
futura" "They occupied positions of eminence 
and influence, having pretense to occult knowl- 
edge." 

The name or term here employed was applied 
to the "learned and religious element of Babylon; 
they used the Cushite language, the language of the 
learned, as against the Semitic, the language em- 
ployed for civil purposes." 

These select bodies were the custodians of Baby- 
lonish wisdom and learning. As such they were 
nourished and fed as a favored class in the courts 
of the king. Ignorant himself, the king arbitrarily 
demanded the practice of their professed art, in the 
gratification of his superstition, for the elucidation 



Lens of Prophecy, 17 

of occult and hidden things. To them he appealed, 
not for interpretation alone, but for a reproduction 
of his vision. However unreasonable the demand, 
let us think it was none the less just, and expected 
as well, since these pretenders were profiting by 
their deceptive art and leeching the king of purse 
and favor, feeding on luxury, enjoying liberal com- 
pensation with indolent superlativeness. Their 
fawning hypocrisy must now be laid bare before 
the king. Parley and delay did not dissuade the 
erratic king, nor lessen the severity of his demands. 
His feverish desire could only be gratified in a com- 
plete and unreserved compliance with the impos- 
sible. If they were what they professed, these en- 
chanters should awaken the secret from the slum- 
bering memory of the king, or adduce in their own 
minds, by their art of divination, the vision which 
flew from the chamber of the king's nightmare. The 
sweeping command that all the men thus classed 
should be slain, comprehended in its reach the lives 
of the Hebrews whom Nebuchadnezzar had placed 
in the tutelage of this school of learning. 

God's plan in the life of Daniel begins now to 
unfold. They sought Daniel and his companions 
to be slain. 

"Then Daniel returned answer with counsel and prudence 
to Arioch the captain of the king's guard, which was gone 
forth to slay the wise men of Babylon: he answered and said 
to Arioch the king's captain, Wherefore is the decree so urgent 
from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel. 
And Daniel went in and desired of the king that he would 
appoint him a time, and he would show the king the inter- 
pretation" (vs. 13-16). 



18 A Look Through the 

Daniel went into the house and counseled with 
his three companions. They agreed to importune 
the God of henven for this hidden knowledge, for 
the safety of their own lives (v. 18). Then the 
secret was revealed to Daniel in the night by 
vision (v. 19). Thereupon Daniel made this beau- 
tiful prayer of praise and thanksgiving: 

"Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom 
and might are his: and he changeth the times and the seasons: 
he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom 
unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understand- 
ing: he revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what 
is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. I thank 
thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast 
given me wisdom and might, and hast now made known unto 
me what we desired of thee: for thou hast made known unto 
us the king's matter" (vs. 20-23). 

It is a short but fervent prayer. Daniel then 
signifies his readiness, to Arioch, to make the in- 
terpretation, and asks that the wise men be not 
destroyed. He would save others from brutal butch- 
ery, and stay the executioner's hand (v. 24). "Ari- 
och brought Daniel before the king in haste." He 
announced his discovery of a man of the "captivity 
of Judah" who would make known the vanished 
dream (v. 25). The king said: "Belteshazzar, art 
thou able to make known unto me the dream which 
I have seen and the interpretation thereof?" Dan- 
iel indicated, in reply, that by human wisdom or 
cunning it could not be produced. "But there is 
a God in heaven that revealeth secrets" (v. 28). 
"But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me 
for any wisdom that I have more than any living" 



Lens of Prophecy. 19 

(v. 30). Here Daniel disclaims the credit of hav- 
ing occult wisdom ; that "there is a God in heaven," 
a stranger to Nebuchadnezzar. To him he addresses 
his attention. "Who revealeth secrets,'^ and there- 
fore worthy his confidence and trust. Daniel points 
him to the skies. 

PURPOSE OF THE VISION. 

"God . . . hath made known to the king Nebuchadnezzar 
what shall be in the latter days" (v. 28). 

"O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, 
what should come to pass hereafter; and he that revealeth 
seciets hath made known to thee what shall come to pass" 
(V. 29). 

Daniel faithfully ascribes to Deity the honor 
and wisdom which belongs to him. Discrediting 
himself of the supernatural, he demonstrates his 
faith in God at a heathen court. 

THE DREAM. 

"Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This 
image, which was mighty, and whose brightness was excellent, 
stood before thee; and the aspect thereof was terrible. As for 
this image, his head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms 
of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, 
his feet part of iron, and part of clay. Thou sawest till 
that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the 
image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake 
them in pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the 
silver, and the gold, broken in pieces together, and became like 
the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind car- 
ried them away, that no place was found for them: and the 
stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and 
filled the whole earth. This is the dream" (vs. 31-36). 



20 A Look Through the 



THE INTERPRETATION. 

"We will tell the interpretation thereof before the king" 
(V. 36). 

"Thou, O king, art king of kings, unto whom the God of 
heaven hath given the kingdom, the power, and the strength, 
and the glory; and wheresoever the children of men dwell, the 
beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given 
into thine hand, and hath made thee to rule over them all: 
thou art the head of gold. And after thee shall arise another 
kingdom inferior to thee; and another third kingdom of brass, 
which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth king- 
dom shall be strong" as iron : forasmuch as Iron breaketh in 
pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that crusheth all 
these, shall it break in pieces and crush. And whereas thou 
sawest the feet and toes, part of potter's clay, and part of 
iron, it shall be a divided kingdom; but there shall be in it 
of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron 
mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part 
of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, 
and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest the iron mixed 
with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of 
men; but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron 
doth not mingle with clay. And in the days of those kings 
shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never 
be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty thereof be left to 
another people; but it shall break in pieces and consume all 
these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as 
thou sawest that a stone was cut out of the mountain without 
hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the 
clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known 
to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream 
is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure" (vs. 37-45). 

Whereupon Nebuchadnezzar reverenced Daniel. 
He fell down before him. He acknowledged his 
Deity to be the "God of gods, and the Lord of kings, 
and a revealer of secrets" (v. 47). 



Lens of Prophecy. 21 

"Then the king made Daniel great, and gave him many- 
great gifts, and made him to rule over the whole province of 
Babylon, and to be chief governor over all the wise men of 
Babylon" (v. 48). 

Daniel took care of Shadrach, Meshach and 
Abed-nego, having them appointed over the affairs 
of the province of Babylon. Himself sat in the 
king's gate (v. 49). 

Since the purpose of the dream was to reveal 
the succeeding kingdoms of the future, and its his- 
tory having now been written for our research, let 
us interest ourselves in the tabulation of the in- 
terpretation as we apply it to fulfilled events. (For 
diagram, see page 22.) 

^'Thou art the head of gold J' The Babylonian 
Empire, now in universal supremacy, of which Neb- 
uchadnezzar was king. The power, strength and 
wealth of the Babylonian Empire centered in him. 
He was the dictator, the sole monarch, and "the 
head of gold'' to the mighty image which stood 
for the present and all coming governments of 
time, as pertaining to Gentile supremacy. 

But Babylon, with all her regal splendor, was 
to fall, to be crushed before the oncoming tread of 
armies marshaled to do the judgments of Jehovah, 
as the dust from the shock of grain flailed upon 
the summer threshing-floor. God makes himself 
known to the great authorities of the world, and 
they are held to strict account for their steward- 
ship, the administration of equity and truth. 

The inferior kingdom, to succeed Babylon, of 
course was the Medo-Persian Empire. It was the 
next in the world's supremacy, and stood for the 



22 A Look Through the 

silver portion of the image — ^the breast and arms. 
The two upper extremities, standing for the dual 
governments, the Medes and Persians, united in 
vital interests and merging into one in heart and 
purpose, represented by the breast or thorax, cov- 
ering the vital parts which immediately sustain and 
support life. United under Cyrus, they took Baby- 
lon in 538 B. C. 

Persia held sway until Alexander invaded the 
south and east in 335 B. C, and established the 
Macedonian Empire, thus placing Greece in the 
supremacy of nations. Alexander advanced from 
the north to Jerusalem in 332 B. C, and was re- 
ceived, upon the predictions of DaniePs prophecies, 
as a man of destiny, and appointed in the provi- 
dence of God to subdue Persia, and to wrest from 
them the world's scepter. He was allowed to enter 
the temple and do priestly service, thus profaning 
the holy sanctuary of the Lord. 

Grecian supremacy extended till 63 B. C, when 
the fourth kingdom, represented by iron — and stood 
for the Roman — invaded the East and became the 
world's master. 

Greece is represented in the belly and thighs 
of the image. She was represented in her dual 
parts by Macedon and Greece, forming a vital 
union in her world conquests, as implied by the 
abdominal viscera. 

Being of the belly, she was ravenous, greedy, 
avaricious and conscienceless. Portrayed by brass, 
the strength of her worth was burnished brilliancy 
— as obtain in her works of art, literature and 
architecture. 



Lens of Prophecy, 



23 



604-. 








^ 


^ 












'O ^ 




yCX3 DV» 

556.. 








e; 


1 




§ 








^^ 


m 


331,. 








:=^ V 















P"^ 


d 












-^ 




c^ 










^ 


^ 




s 


63.' 








^L/5^ 


r^ 




m 








■<\ 




. 








\ 






-H 


• 33AD 








►— H ^ 










m 




I 






po 







m 










o 


3 




s 


1 


\ 






z 


n 






V.476AD-. 


\ 






/ 






CI 








% 


^ 




1 






> 






S^ 


■ 


1 






1 — 1 


s 




CO 










po 






'6 




. 






o 


s 




^ 


! 


• 






2: 


m 




g 










t7 






X 




' 








r^ 




^ 


• 











73 


3 




5^ 


; 








)^ 


m 







^17 


■ 


1 






^ 






0> 


1866-71. 
\95Z. 








J 


3 

-7 mr>> 


§ 


• IRON AND MIREY CLAY > 


5^/ 


o 


> 


'^ 

'Z^ 


1 1 


z 


n 






H 




-H 


!^ 










1 


-^ 


<CD 


^ 












4^ 




Pn 









en, 
C\) 

o 



CD 



00 






§ 



H 

S; 
I 



24 ^A Looh Through the 

The Roman kingdom, extending from 63 B. C. 
to 476 A. D., is represented by the legs of iron in 
this Gentile image of word supremacy. It was 
strong, as represented by the iron, the material that 
composed these parts. Stronger than the rest in its 
hold upon the world, the severity of its adminis- 
tration, the strength of its military, it was yet 
weaker than they in richness of character and fine- 
ness of arts and all the products of mental achieve- 
ment. It was dual, in the union of church and 
state, taking the form of a civil and religious gov- 
ernment, and this dual form is represented by the 
legs as we advance down the image. It has ever 
retained its one characteristic throughout — its 
severity and crushing power. It is a government 
without mercy, cruel, passionate and brutish. 
Though united in church, its temper is untamed, 
runs to excess, and, under the guise of religion, 
works the most heinous of crimes. Lust and ava- 
rice are the corroding elements of its power, and 
history is burdened with the ruin it has engendered 
upon the race. Its location upon the image com- 
prehends the baser man. 

The intermixture of civil and religious govern- 
ment — so incompatible are these elements, that the 
power is weakened as we descend toward the ex- 
tremity of the image (v. 41). 

As the image passes from view in the fall of 
Rome and the dimunition of the temporal power 
of the pope, we see but the feet and toes remain- 
ing. Reformatory movements and European wars 
gave birth to freedom. The ten divisions of Eu- 
rope, or of Rome, are the extremity of the long 



Lens of Prophecy, 25 

and vast supremacy of that power. In the final 
demolition of the temporal power of the pope in 
1866-71 A. D., we have eliminated one foot from 
the image, and have but one foot, the toes of both 
remaining of Latin extraction. Ecclesiastic Rome 
is but partly destroyed. The iron and clay of 
Rome now mingle themselves with the seed of 
men. Much of the likeness of Romanism is found 
in divided Protestantism. Much of Roman juris- 
prudence and military conquest are found in the 
modern divisions, or governments, of the world. 
Roman ecclesiasticism is now considered brittle 
stuff, and at the close of Jewish subordination it 
will make its last stand, and it shall be broken 
and destroyed without help, though it may regain 
some temporal hold before its final overthrow. 

**In the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set 
up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the 
sovereignty thereof be left to another people; but it shall 
break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall 
stand for ever" (v. 44). 

Do we know what kingdoms are to be broken 
to pieces by the momentum of the oncoming king- 
dom, represented by the little stone cut out of 
the mountain without hands? The teaching of 
the foregoing Scriptures plainly shows. The gold 
and silver governments, or kingdoms, were not to 
come in immediate touch with the aggressive 
kingdom of Christ — its wreckage of other king- 
doms — for such its work should be. "It shall 
break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms" 
(v. 44). What kingdoms? 



26 A Look Through the 

"Forasmuch as thou sawest that a stone was cut out of 
the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the 
irorif the dross, the clay, the silvery and the gold'* (v. 45). 

Why does it not begin to break in pieces the 
gold and the silver first, according to their suc- 
cession as portrayed in the figure? Why begin to 
break in pieces after the order of the reading 
(v. 45) ? The reason is very significant and prac- 
tical, and settles much of error and speculation 
about when the kingdom of Christ was set up, 
some holding it yet as a future event. The moun- 
tain (singular number) out of which the stone 
was cut, was the great Roman Empire. (Moun- 
tain, signifying a political power.) It being in 
supremacy when Christ was born, accomplished 
his work and established his spiritual government 
on the day of Pentecost following his resurrection. 
The rock cut out from among the people of the 
mountain of Roman dominion, was the immaculate 
Son of God. From the small, compact gathering 
of that upper chamber, which encompassed within 
its narrow boundary the kingdom of our Christ, 
it started down the declivity of time, and it has 
been rolling on through the centuries, gathering 
strength and force and dimensions, until it is now 
about to fill the farthest corners of the earth. 

Starting at Jerusalem, in its westward trend, 
keeping pace with the advancing columns of the 
migratory streams of humanity as it starts around 
the globe, it must first meet the territory occupied 
by Grecian supremacy, write its records in the 
language of that empire, and evangelize and save 



Lens of Prophecy. 27 

so many as would hear the gospel. It made a last- 
ing impression on Thessalonica, Philippi, Athens, 
Corinth, Achaia — the very centers of Grecian popu- 
lation. Thus the kingdom of brass first comes 
under the power and healing of the kingdom of 
our Lord. 

That mighty apostle to the Gentiles was told 
that he must also preach the gospel to them that 
were at Rome. Thither he goes bound to the ter- 
restrial center of all civil authority. He declared 
the gospel of the death, burial and resurrection of 
the Son of God in the Imperial City. He stood be- 
fore the throne of Csesar and persuasively appealed 
to that man of iron. His ringing oratory filled the 
halls and corridors and the very dome of that capi- 
tol of splendor. And why was he thus sent bound 
to Rome? "Because for the hope of Israel I am 
bound with this chain" (Paul — Acts xxviii. 20). 
What ! was he accused of the Jews, and then fought 
through the long line of courts until he stood be- 
fore Caesar's bar, "for the hope of IsraeP'? Yes, 
Paul let out the secref, hidden from the days of 
Daniel. His business was to evangelize the Gen- 
tiles, take the succeeding kingdoms of the world 
for Christ, and hurry on the work of their deliver- 
ance while opportunity was afforded for their salva- 
tion, because "hardening in part hath befallen Is- 
rael, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in; 
and so all Israel shall be saved" (Rom. xi. 25, 26). 
For the salvation of the Jews, there must be a con- 
clusion of this long stretch of Gentile supremacy. 
Israel's hope then depended on the captivity of the 
^^iron'^ government; Rome stood in the line of re- 



28 'A Look Through the 

iigious conquest, and it must yield to the stern 
power of truth. Israel's deliverance was to be ac- 
complished by Christ, but not agreeably to Israel's 
methods of conquest, nor yet of that immediate gen- 
eration of Jews, for they could not see him hence- 
forth until they should say, "Blessed is he that 
Cometh in the name of the Lord." 

And so, passing on through the figure illus- 
trative of the succeeding dynasties, the onrolling 
wave of liberty, truth and justice to all mankind 
should triumph over all. It has passed now be- 
yond and in advance of the image, to the islands 
of the sea ; it has clashed upon the Asiatic shores ; 
the land where the silver and gold kingdoms once 
held supremacy will soon be invaded, and the con- 
quest will be complete. The Jews will be saved, 
emancipated, and supremacy once more given unto 
them. And so, by the order given, the two first 
in supremacy after Israel's overthrow will be the 
two last paralyzed (that is, their seed, or the seeds 
of what was once those famous dynasties) by the 
weight of the kingdom of Christ. 

It is clear, therefore, that the kingdom God 
established in Christ, and represented by the "lit- 
tle stone," was set up during the Roman suprem- 
acy, and before it (Rome) exercised its dual power 
over its subjects. And as all the modern organ- 
ized governments are the outgrowth of these sev- 
eral supreme powers, so the evangelizing power of 
Christ's kingdom will extend to the whole world, 
and the "glory of all kingdoms shall come into it." 
For the consummation of this sublime end, the 
heathen lands are coming into the valley of de- 



Lens of Prophecy, 29 

cision, and they will soon determine their accept- 
ance or rejection of the Son of God. 

The fleets and armies of the world will before 
long be summoned to fight ihe world's last great 
battle. The nations are now creating fleets the most 
formidable and deadly. Some are in the process of 
construction, whose destruction will occur in the 
fatal conflict which marks the close of the Gentile 
supremacy. Armageddon stands in the perspec- 
tive. 

China, invaded by the invincible armies of 
Christendom, has just been forced into decision. 
She will henceforth be easily invaded by the gospel. 
The world is hastening the events preparatory to 
the Jewish period of grace, as rapidly as they can 
safely and certainly be performed. 



30 A Look Through the 



CHAPTEE III. 

The Golden Image; or, The God of Wealth. 

(Dan. iii.) 

Nebuchadnezzar is now the world's great king. 
He is in supremacy over all ; God's people are his 
subordinates, his subjects and his slaves. The in- 
dignation is upon the Jews. During the Israelit- 
ish supremacy there was the image of holiness de- 
fined in lawy as was manifested also in the presence 
of the Shechinah, to which all in reverence bowed 
in obedience and adoration. The world's king has 
set before it an image, and he requires the whole 
world to bow down and worship it. It is an image 
of gold. The actual image that Nebuchadnezzar 
set up was colossal in its proportions, being ninety 
feet high and nine feet broad. It was set up in the 
plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. (The 
worst mischief is, the whole world has ever since 
been striving to get up upon this plain, and reside 
in the province — Dura. But it is too narrow for 
all, and consequently there is much painful disap- 
pointment. ) 

All the official dignitaries (v. 2) from all the 
provinces were required to be at the dedication of 
this image. The response, of course, was vast and 
universal (v. 3), and they stood before this splen- 
did mass of gold. 

"Then the herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, 
O peoples, nations, and languages, that at what time ye hear 
the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dul- 



Lens of Prophecy, 31 

cimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and -worship the 
golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up: and 
whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour 
be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace" (vs. 4-6). 

The king must be obeyed under the dreadful 
penalty prescribed in the proclamation. At the 
appointed time and under the given signal, "all 
the peoples . . . fell down and worshipped the gold- 
en image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set 
up'' (v. 7). But DaniePs companions, Shadrach, 
Meshach and Abed-nego, in control ''over the af- 
fairs of the province of Babylon," as we should 
expect, disregarded the king in this heathen service. 
They did not serve the gods of Nebuchadnezzar, 
neither would they worship the golden image he 
had made (v. 12). 

For this, certain Chaldeans made accusation to 
the king against these Hebrew rulers in authority 
over provincial affairs. They reminded him of the 
decree he had made. Any disobedient to the decree 
should be cast into the midst of a fiery furnace (vs. 
10, 11). Jealousy may have been an exciting 
cause which prompted them to hasten the report to 
the king; nevertheless, the test must come upon 
them, decision of character must be proven by a 
fiery test, and a sharp discrimination between obe- 
dience to the king, as against loyalty to God, must 
be defined. Public men are proven in the vast 
arena of public events. Every man in the realm of 
his activity. 

These dignified friends of Daniel were at once 
arrested by command given in the fury of the king, 



32 A. Look Through the 

and dragged into the king's court (v. 13). The 
king said : 

"Is it of purpose, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, 
that ye serve not my god, nor worship the golden image 
which I have set up?" (v. 14). 

"Now if ye be ready at what time ye hear the sound of 
the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and 
all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which 
ave I hmade, well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the 
same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and 
who is that god that shall deliver you out of my hands?" 
(V. 15). 

They answered him : 

"We have no need to answer thee in this matter. If it 
be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the 
burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of thine 
hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that 
we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image 
which thou hast set up" (vs. 17, 18). 

A noble and manly answer; bold, courageous, 
fearless. Nebuchadnezzar was wild with rage; he 
was furious; the form of his countenance was 
changed against them. He ordered the furnace 
heated seven times more than was customary. 
Certain men were detailed to bind them and to cast 
them into the "burning fiery furnace" (v. 20). 

"Then these men were bound in their hosen, their tunics, 
and their mantles, and their other garments, and were cast 
into the midst of the burning fiery furnace" (v. 21). 

The intensity of the fire, made thus from the 
urgency of the king's command, slew the men who 
^ere executing the king's order (v. 22), while the 
three condemned Jews fell down bound into the 



Lens of Prophecy, 33 

midst of the fire without injury (v. 23). Where- 
upon the king saw four men, having no hurt, 
walking loose in the midst of the fire, whereat he 
was astonished. ^^The aspect of the fourth is like 
a son of the gods." The divine presence minis- 
tered unto his faithful servants. They were not con- 
sumed. Neither shall God's righteousness con- 
sume away. A miracle? Yes. But why should 
he not deliver them? He who holds the burning 
suns in their sockets, and ordains the order of the 
universe — for the teaching of the world his author- 
ity, his dignity, his honor — why should he not mani- 
fest himself? He did. He has presented himself 
in evidence at the bar of human judgment. His 
arguments are complete, and an end of prophecy 
is made. "What shall we do with him who is 
called Christ?" is the question of the hour. This 
heathen king saw in Him a glorious personality, 
possessing properties which at once placed him in 
the gallery of the gods, amid the imaginary deities 
of ancient mythology. 

"Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the 
burning fiery furnace; he spake and said, Shadrach, Me- 
shach, and Abed-nego, ye servants of the Most High God, 
come forth, and come hither. Then they came forth out of 
the midst of the fire" (v. 26). 

This was witnessed by officers of high rank (v. 
27), that the fire had no power upon their bodies, 
neither their clothes. 

Nebuchadnezzar blessed God, who had sent his 
angel to deliver His servants that trusted in Him, 
and set at naught his own authority (v. 28). He 
in^cle a decree al^o, making hoporabl^ tb^ir Qo^ 



34 A Look Through the 

throughout the world, and that he should not be 
spoken against. 

"Because there is no other god that is able to deliver 
after this sort" (v. 29). 

Then these Jews were promoted, who had been 
the objects of his fury, and suffered his hatred 
rather than deny the God who made the heaven 
and the earth — the God of Israel. 

So much for the narrative. And so much for 
the lesson as applied to the times in which they 
occurred. But we may see typified in this some 
practical lessons for ourselves. 

"Thou Shalt have none other gods before me." 
— Voice of God. 

"Thou Shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
strength, and with all thy mind." — Voice of Jesus. 

Reverence, honor and obedience to God was 
man's duty under the old covenant; and IsraeFs 
loyalty to God in the observance of his commands 
as prescribed in the law was what marked the su- 
premacy of Israel as a people. Becoming idola- 
trous and disobedient, they were subdued by a for- 
eign power and led away into captivity, to be a 
subordinate people in the world until "the indig- 
nation be overpassed." 

The world's kingdom which led Israel to trans- 
gress, is now in supremacy. The image here rep- 
resented is the image of the world's strength and 
power and wealth through a succession of empires. 
The head of gold, as in the former image, was 
Babylon, Though they had many gods, the ''gold^ 



Lens of Prophecy. 35 

en imag&' was the deity of the world's choice, and 
at whose shrine the world loves to go and bend in 
reverence down. Wealth, the fickle goddess, and 
most often the one of vision only, is here in actual 
figure and design. The world now bows before 
the "Mighty Dollar." 

It is still idolatrous. He who falls not before 
this mighty god, is cast in many hot places, for this 
mad stampede for gold regards not the rights 
of our fellows. The world demands that we cul- 
tivate this passion of covetousness, or share un- 
equal chances in the disbursement of the world's 
great wealth. 

When the chorus of the world's industry 
sounds, and we assemble to the creation of the 
world's wealth, the decree seems to be — if judged 
by those who succeed in the race for fortune — that 
man must sacrifice all of time, health, mind and 
soul, his very being, upon the altar of greed, in de- 
votion to a deity we should abhor. And to suc- 
ceed, after a long, tedious, covetous endeavor, in 
amassing a pile of glittering pelf, is to rob life of 
its sweets, its enjoyments, its purest culture, its 
noblest associations, and to receive nothing in 
return to fill the vacuum of our souls' needs and 
requirements. 

Wealth is an idolatrous image; it thinks not, 
speaks not, acts not. We are too anxious to recog- 
nize and adore it. It bestows no blessings, im- 
parts no hope, gives no life. Avarice, the greed of 
gain, "is a root of all kinds of evil." It is the 
source of the world's pain, sorrow and grief. Its 
hand has wrung blood from innocency^ filled the 



36 'A Look Through the 

cup of life's sorrow, and crowned toil with igno- 
miny and thorns. Its cruel reign of tyranny will 
extend until the divine and impartial Ruler re- 
turns to reign in equity and justice among men. 
The golden head, as shown in the previous chap- 
ter, will be the last to crumble under the strength 
of the ongoing kingdom of God. 

The children in the furnace were delivered, and 
so we think the church of our Redeemer, tried in 
the world's conflagration, burning with all the in- 
tensity of excitement, passion, greed, perfidy and 
selfishness, shall come out in the end without "spot, 
wrinkle, or any such thing," free from all blem- 
ishes, no odor of the world's ruin upon it, because 
the Son of the most high God is with it and will 
shield it about, and nothing shall hurt in all his 
holy mount. We shall be his when he comes to 
make up his jewels. 

But the Jew! The deliverance of these 
Hebrew children typifies the deliverance of the 
Jewish race, its emancipation, its exaltation, when 
the time of its humiliation is complete; when the 
persecution, the hatred and the sneers of superior 
peoples shall be silenced in astonishment, to find 
the Son of the most high God is their deliverer, 
and that he shields and saves them alive and will 
exalt them again in the earth. 



Lens of Prophecy. 37 



CHAPTER IV. 
Nebuchadnezzar^s Insanity. — His Proclamation 

ALSO. 
(Dan. iv.) 

Nebuchadnezzar made a proclamation, as fol- 
lows : 

"Nebuchadnezzar ttie king, unto all the peoples, nations, 
and languages, that dwell in all the earth; peace be multi- 
plied unto you. It hath seemed good unto me to show the 
signs and wonders that the Most High God hath wrought 
toward me. How great are his signs! and how mighty are 
his wonders! his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and 
his dominion is from generation to generation" (vs. 1-3). 

This proclamation was given to the world after 
Nebuchadnezzar had returned to sanity and the 
assumption of the affairs of his government. It is 
given here to preface the dream, its interpretation 
and fulfillment, which he also published to his 
kingdom, after the visitation of God's displeasure 
upon him, or the evil self-entailed by the inexorable 
law of nature, concerning excess in human living, 
arrogance and pride of heart, an insanity which 
unfitted and disqualified him to govern, and 
made him quit his throne, leading him into the 
forest and the jungle. The beastly depravity he 
experienced, and his restoration to health and 
government, were fully foretold him in dream and 
by interpretation which Daniel made; and while 
the king did not amend his life, nor seek to restore 
confidence toward God, he amply recognized and 



38 A Look Through the 

honored him on his recovery and return to the 
throne of his kingdom. 

Let us note the situation and environment of 
Nebuchadnezzar previous to his vision. 

THE EASE OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR. 

"I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, and flour- 
ished in my palace" (v. 5), 

His own language is indicative of his ease and 
thrift. He is surrounded by luxuriant splendor. 
The world is at his feet. His government is at 
peace, for his arm has subdued all unto himself. 
Fear and dread removed far away, pleasurable ex- 
cess, vanity and intoxication would be his natural 
indulgences. The marvelous signs and wonders al- 
ready wrought of God, purposely to impress the 
king and show him a greater Sovereign to whom he 
should account as one in trust of government over 
human souls, seems to have met his disregard; at 
least, he did not recognize the Most High in the 
temporal affairs and management of men. Provi- 
dence had not become of real importance to him. 
Having a knowledge of God, the king refused him 
the homage due to Deity. 

For the analysis of this dream, the king again 
calls "all the wise men of Babylon, that they 
might make known the interpretation of the 
dream." Daniel is not at once called upon, which 
would also evidence that while the king knows the 
power and wisdom of God, as demonstrated 
through the Hebrew scholars of his court, he would 
seek the advice and counsel of the soothsayers and 



Lens of Prophecy, 39 

enchanters and magicians in response to the super- 
stitious element yet in the ascendency in his soul. 
These men were in sympathy with his pagan no- 
tions; men who flattered, too, his vanity, and 
praised his greatness and power ; "venal parasites,'' 
who praised and flattered this regal potentate into 
the wild delirium of insanity, that they might fat- 
ten on his favor; while Daniel disregarded the 
king's favors, to honor the living God, rebuked the 
proud king, and extolled a Superior Power. - 

The sages of Chaldea assembled before the 
king. He told his dream. 

''But tHey did not make known unto me [the king] the 
interpretation thereof" (y. 7). 

"But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name 
was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, and in 
whom is the spirit of the holy gods: and I told the dream 
before him, saying, O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, 
because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, 
and no secret troubleth thee, tell me the vision of my dream 
that I have seen, and the interpretation thereof." 

THE DREAM. 

"Thus were the visions of my head upon my bed: I saw, 
and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height 
thereof was great. The tree grew, and was strong, and the 
height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof 
to the end of all the earth. The leaves thereof were fair, 
and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the 
beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the 
heaven dwelt in the branches thereof, and all flesh was fed of 
it. I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, 
a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven. He 
cried aloud, and said thus. Hew down the tree, and cut off 
his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let 



40 A Look Through the 

the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his 
branches. Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the 
earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender 
grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, 
and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the 
earth: let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's 
heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him" 
(vs. 8-16). 

Nebuchadnezzar knew "the spirit of the holy 
gods" was in Daniel because of previous service to 
the king in revealing mysteries. He now com- 
mands Belteshazzar to declare the interpretation 
(v. 18). The wise men of the kingdom were not 
able. Continuing the dream : 

"The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, and the 
demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the 
living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom 
of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up 
over it the lowest of men. This dream I king Nebuchad- 
nezzar have seen" (vs. 17, 18). 

Here the vision seems to reveal its own source, 
and to point out that there is a Providence shaping 
the kingdoms of the world. 

THE INTERPRETATION. 

"Belteshazzar, let not the dream, or the interpretation, 
trouble thee. Belteshazzar answered and said. My lord, the 
dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpretation thereof 
to thine adversaries. The tree that thou sawest, which grew, 
and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and 
the sight thereof to all the earth; whose leaves were fair, 
and the fmit thereof much, and it was meat for all; under 
which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches 
the fowls of the heaven had their habitation: it is thou. 



Lens of Prophecy. 41 

O king, that art grown and become strong: for thy greatness 
is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the 
end of the earth. And whereas the king saw a watcher and 
an holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew 
down the tree, and destroy it; nevertheless leave the stump 
of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron 
and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet 
with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts 
of the field, till seven times pass over him; this is the inter- 
pretation, O king, and it is the decree of the Most High, which 
is come upon my lord the king: that thou shalt be driven from 
men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, 
and thou shalt be made to eat grass as oxen, and shalt be 
wet with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over 
thee; till thou know that the Most High ruleth in the king- 
dom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. And 
whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots ; 
thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have 
known that the heavens do rule" (vs. 20-26). 

The interpretation revealed the awful penalty 
due this powerful, arrogant, self-willed king, stand- 
ing in the midst of the world's splendor ; whose daz- 
zling glory shone about him; the world's wealth 
was pouring at his feet, and the exalted monarch 
of this mighty metropolis, this powerful empire of 
antiquity, itself a wonder of the world, was to be 
humiliated, humbled, till returning reason should 
declare the most high God the Ruler of the world, 
in whose hand the rapid shuttle of the world's 
events did his pleasure. 

Daniel regretted to see measured out to the 
king the extreme penalty, in whose favor he had 
so long stood, and would wish rather it might fall 
upon those who hated Babylon's sovereign, rather 



42 A Look Through the 

than the monarch himself. That he may avert the 
dread calamity, Daniel offers the king advice : 

"Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto 
tbee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniqui- 
ties by shewing mercy to the poor; if there may be a lengthen- 
ing of thy tranquillity" (v. 27). 

Repentance was not made by the king, for "all 
this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar.'' 

THE DREAM FULFILLED. 

"At the end of twelve months he was walking in the 
royal palace of Babylon. The king spake and said. Is not this 
great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling 
place, by the might of my power and for the glory of my 
majesty? While the word was in the king's mouth, there 
fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to 
thee it is spoken: the kingdom is departed from thee. And 
thou Shalt be driven from men, and thy dwelling shall be 
with the beasts of the field; thou shalt be made to eat grass as 
oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee; until thou know 
that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth 
it to whomsoever he will. The same hour was the thing 
fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar; and he was driven from men, 
and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the 
dew of heaven, till his hair was grown like eagles' featheis, 
and his nails like birds' claws" (vs. 30-33). 

Living as before, repenting not, resting in his 
splendor, his power and his riches, filching from 
toil its sacred rights and privileges, boasting in 
his own achievements at the expense of mercy and 
justice due to others, he had created for himself 
a "royal dwelling-place," wherein was an exhibi- 
tion of "might and power" for the honor and dig- 
nity of his "majesty." This "might"! Over what? 



• Lens of Prophecy, '4S 

The might of injustice to man, in overriding him 
and compelling him to servitude without adequate 
compensation. "And power"! What power? The 
power to drive and to compel to obedience all who 
would protest against his cruel oppression; the 
power to levy and collect tribute to meet his ex- 
travagant demands for the support of the royal 
house in gaudy luxury, vanity, ease and licentious- 
ness. The fulfillment is clearly explained in Dan- 
iel's words: 

"And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up 
mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned 
unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and 
honoured him that liveth for ever; for his dominion is an 
everlasting dominion, and his kingdom from generation to 
generation: and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed 
as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of 
heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none 
can stay his hand, or say unto him. What doest thou? At 
the same time mine understanding returned unto me; and 
for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and brightness 
returned unto me; and my counsellors and my lords sought 
unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent 
greatness was added unto me. Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise 
and extol and honour the King of heaven; for all his works 
are truth, and his ways judgement: and those that walk in 
pride he is able to abase" (vs. 34-37). 

The purpose of this vision and its fulfillment 
was, of course, to create a God-fearing sovereign. 
The execution of the penalty humbled his pride, 
lifted the eyes of the conceited king to the source 
of all knowledge, wisdom and power. We have 
alluded to Nebuchadnezzar's affliction as self- 
entailed, as the result of his own folly, and so we 



44 A Look Through the 

think. God knew of the oncoming madness, and 
forewarned. It may have been averted on one 
year's notice. The case was not hopelessly gona 
However, were it punishment directly decreed, 
or the consequence of vice, in either event it was 
the result of sin. We can not differentiate between 
God in nature, working in the laws of the same, 
or God working in laws undefined or undefinable. 
Either way it is God working, God decreeing, and 
it is not essential that we always see the differ- 
ence, if there be any. Let us not question God, but 
have faith in him. 

We know that Nebuchadnezzar was driven 
forth (either by madness or the special power of 
God), and for seven years he groveled on the earth 
as an unclean and ghastly beast. We may know 
that others' sins make them outlaws also, to heaven 
and God, and that wreck and ruin inevitably await 
the lawless and disobedient to his Word; they fol- 
low in the wake of evil men. 

This lesson had its effect on Nebuchadnezzar. 
*^I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honour 
the King of heaven." "All his works are truth." 
"His ways judgement." "Those that walk in pride 
he is able to abase." 

And so, when convicted, we each may see how 
folly and wrong had led us into iniquitous paths, 
until insanity had seized upon us, and driven us 
mad, drunk with the vanity and pleasure of sin. 
When its effects have told on our moral constitu- 
tion, we awoke to inquire of our lost kingdom and 
to seek the God who is "able to abase" the con- 
ceited and the proud, Vse should ever remember 



Lens of Prophecy, 45 

the wages of sin, and keep our face toward the 
Giver of life. 

Every man is a free moral being. He is the 
king of a mighty empire. His dominion extends 
to the full reach of his influence. He is a good or a 
bad king. God's eye is over his doings. He must 
come into account before Jehovah. Have you done 
wickedly? 

"O king, let my counsel be acceptable nnto thee, and break 
off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing 
mercy to the poor : if an healmg of thine error be a lengthening 
of thy tranquillity" (v. 27). 

We are too unconcerned of others in our living. 
Too independent of God. We feast upon his sump- 
tuous bounties, and give him no thanks for his 
provident mercies. His mercies and benefits fall 
upon us like the dew upon the grass. We view the 
wondrous splendors of human accomplishments, 
and think not it is God who is our increase and 
our support. One day, when we take the inven- 
tory of life and proudly boast of vast accumu- 
lations, the voice of God will fall from the skies, 
saying, "Thou fool, this night is thy soul required 
of thee." Oh, the folly of earthly glory ! The cor- 
rosion of avarice upon the soul! The deceit of 
flattery! The disappointment of pride, of vanity, 
of wealth! 



46 A Look Through the 



CHAPTER V. 

Belshazzar's Dream. — The Fall of Babylon. 

(Dan. V.) 

Twenty-four years have elapsed since the trans- 
piration of the events of our last chapter. Nebu- 
chadnezzar is dead. Belshazzar, his grandson, is 
the king of Babylon. The time of Babylon as a 
kingdom extends from 748 B. C. to its overthrow 
in the events of this chapter, 538 B. C. 

The character of Belshazzar is iniquitous. The 
hopeful reformation wrought in Xebuchadnezzar, 
his predecessor, was not effective on the heart of 
the present king. It did not extend to the royal 
house. Belshazzar becomes excessive in his impi- 
ous, wicked and unholy administration of govern- 
ment. His personal habits were those of a deb- 
auchee. He dealt cruelly with the Israelitish 
captives. He blasphemed the God of heaven, and 
made sensual use of the holy utensils of the tem- 
ple service. The time of emancipation has come 
for the people of God. 

Two hundred and thirty years previous to the 
events of this lesson, Isaiah prophesied concerning 
this Babylon and concerning the people of Israel : 

"Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of 
Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of 
the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and 
delicate. Take the millstones, and grind meal: remove thy 
veil, strip off the train, uncover the leg, pass through the 
rivers, Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame 



Lens of Prophecy. 47 

shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and will accept no man. 
Our redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One 
of Israel. Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O 
daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called 
The lady of kingdoms. I was wroth with my people, I pro- 
faned mine inheritance, and gave them into thin© hand: thou 
didst shevr them no mercy; upon the aged hast thou very 
heavily laid thy yoke. And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for 
ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, 
neither didst remember the latter end thereof. 

"Now therefore hear this, thou that art given to pleasures, 
that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, 
and there is none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, 
neither shall I know the loss of children : but these two things 
shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of chil- 
dren, and widowhood: in their full measure shall they come 
upon thee, despite of the multitude of thy sorceries, and the 
great abundance of thine enchantments. For thou hast 
trusted in thy wickedness; thou hast said. None seeth me; 
thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee: and 
thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and there is none else 
beside me. Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt 
not know the davming thereof: and mischief shall fall upon 
thee; thou shalt not be able to put it away: and desolation 
shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou knowest not. 
Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude 
of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; 
if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest pre- 
vail. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels: let 
now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosti- 
cators, stand up, and save thee from the things that shall 
come upon thee. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire 
shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the 
power of the flame: it shall not be a coal to warm at, nor a 
fire to sit before. Thus shall the things be unto thee wherein 
thou hast laboured: they that have trafficked with thee from 
thy youth shall wander every one to his quarter; there shall 
be none to save thee" (Isa. xlvii. 1-15), 



48 A Look Through the 

Read, also, prophecies concerning Israel for her 
deliverance and her destiny: Isa. xxi. 1-10; Isa. 
xiii. ; Isa. xiv. 1-27 ; Jer. i. 11-19 ; Jer. 1. ; Jer. li. 
1-58 ; Ps. cxxxTii. 8, 9 ; Isa. xliv. 21-28. 

God had determined the captivity of his people 
by the word of prophecy a long while before the 
event. He fixed the years of their captivity also, 
seventy in number. 

"Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and 
the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the 
voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of 
the candle. And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an 
astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of 
Babylon seventy years. And it shall come to pass, when 
seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king 
of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lobd, for their iniquity, 
and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it desolate 
for ever. And I will bring upon that land all my words which 
I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this 
book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations" 
(Jer. XXV. 10-13). 

He promised also to deliver them after this full 
term of servitude: 

"And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come 
with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon 
their heads: they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow 
and sighing shall flee away. 

"I, even I, am he that comforteth yon: who art thon, that 
thou art afraid of man that shall die, and of the son of man 
which shall be made as grass; and hast forgotten the Lord 
thy Maker, that stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foun- 
dations of the earth; and fearest continually all the day 
because of the fury of the oppressor, when he maketh ready 
to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor? The 
captive exil^ nU9M speedily be looked; and he shall not die 



Lens of Prophecy. 49 

and go down into the pit, neither shall his bread fail. For 
I am the Lord thy God, which stirreth up the sea, that the 
waves thereof roar: the Lord of hosts is Ms name" (Isa. 11. 
11-15). 

He addressed the righteous of his people 
through prophetic word, and reminded them that 
he was their deliverer. In the humility of their 
exile he points them to their former estate, and 
makes promise of their emancipation : 

"Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye 
that seek the Loed: look unto the rock whence ye were hewn, 
and to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged. Look unto 
Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for 
when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and 
made him many. For the Lord hath comforted Zion: he 
hath comforted all her waste places, and hath made her 
wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the 
Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, 
and the voice of melody. 

"Attend unto me, O my people; and give ear unto me, O 
my nation : for a law shall go forth from me, and I will make 
my judgement to rest for a light of the peoples. My righteous- 
ness is near, my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall 
judge the peoples; the isles shall wait for me, and on mine 
arm shall they trust. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and 
look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish 
away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, 
and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my 
salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not 
be abolished. 

"Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people 
in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, 
neither be ye dismayed at their revilings. For the moth 
shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat 
them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and 
my salvation unto all generations. 



50 A Look Through the 

"Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; 
awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. 
Art thou not it that cut Rahab in pieces, that pierced the 
dragon? Art thou not it which dried up the sea, the waters 
of the great deep; that made the depths of the sea a way for 
the redeemed to pass over?" (Isa. li. 1-11). 

Two hundred years previous, and before the 
birth of Cyrus, the Lord spakvB by the raontb of 
prophecy concerning him, and called him by name ; 
though the Jews were in captivity and Judah a 
waste, he says : 

"Jerusalem, She shall be inhabited; and of the cities of 
Judah, They shall be built, and I will raise up the waste 
places thereof: that saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry 
up thy rivers: that saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and 
shall perform all my pleasure: even saying of Jerusalem, She 
shall be built; and to the temple. Thy foundation shall be laid" 
(Isa. xliv. 26-28). 

And also: 

"Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose 
right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him, and 
I will loose the loins of kings; to open the doors before him, 
and the gates shall not be shut; I will go before thee, and 
make the rugged places plain: I will break in pieces the 
doors of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: and I will 
give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of 
secret places, that thou mayest know that I am the Lord, 
which call thee by thy name, even the God of Israel. For 
Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel my chosen, I have called 
thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast 
not known me : I am the Lord, and there is none else ; beside 
me there is no God: I will gird thee, though thou hast not 
known me: that they may know from the rising of the sun, 
and from the west, that there is none beside me: I am the 
Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and create 



Lens of Prophecy, 51 

darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I am the Lord, that 
doeth all these things" (Isa. xlv. 1-7). 

God placed the visions of conquest in the brain 
of Cyrus; he was an instrument in the hand of 
Deity for the accomplishment of this work. He 
assembled mightily the Medes and Persians 
against Babylon. 

"The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz 
did see. 

"Set ye up an ensign upon the bare mountain, lift up 
the voice unto them, wave the hand, that they may go into 
the gates of the nobles. I have commanded my consecrated 
ones, yea, I have called my mighty men for mine anger, even 
my proudly exulting ones. The noise of a multitude in the 
mountains, like as of a great people! the noise of a tumult 
of the kingdoms of the nations gathered together! the Lord 
of hosts mustereth the host for the battle. They come from 
a far country, from the uttermost part of heaven, even 
the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the 
whole land. Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; 
as destruction from the Almighty shall it come. Therefore 
shall all hands be feeble, and every heart of man shall melt: 
and they shall be dismayed; pangs and sorrows shall take hold 
of them; they shall be in pain as a woman in travail: they 
shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall he faces of 
flame. Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel, with wrath 
and fierce anger; to make the land a desolation, and to destroy 
the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and 
the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun 
shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not 
cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for 
their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause 
the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the 
haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more 
rare than fine gold, even a man than the pure gold 
of Ophir. Therefore I will make the heavens to trem- 
ble, and the earth shall be shaken out of her place, in 



52 A Look Through the 

the wrath of the Loed of hosts, and in the day of his 
fierce anger. And it shall come to pass, that as the chased 
roe, and as sheep that no man gathereth, they shall turn 
every man to his own people, and shall flee every man to his 
own land. Every one that is found shall be thrust through; 
and every one that is taken shall fall by the sword. Their 
infants also shall be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their 
houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished. Behold, 
I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard 
silver, and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. And 
their bows shall dash the young men in pieces; and they 
shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall 
not spare children. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the 
beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, shall be as when God over- 
threw Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, 
neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: 
neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall shep- 
herds make their flocks to lie down there. But wild beasts 
of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of 
doleful creatures; and ostriches shall dwell there, and satyrs 
shall dance there. And wolves shall cry in their castles, and 
jackals in the pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, 
and her days shall not be prolonged. For the Lord will have 
compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them 
in their own land: and the stranger shall join himself with 
them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. And the 
people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the 
house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for 
servants and for handmaids : and they shall take them captive, 
whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their 
oppressors" (Isa. xiii. and xiv. 1, 2). 

Jeremiah also makes prediction of Babylon's 
destruction. She was God's agent for the correc- 
tion of his people, but she abused her privilege and 
did not recognize the rights of her subjects, did 
abominable wickedness, and refused to repent of 
her evil, after the patient sufferance of God, and 



Lens of Prophecy, 53 

his importunity of the princely house for the sal- 
vation of Babylon. She must therefore become an 
ensample to the nations of the earth. 

"A sound of Battle is in the land, and of great destruc- 
tion. How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder 
and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the 
nations! I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, 
O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and 
also caught, because thou hast striven against the Lord. The 
Lord hath opened his armoury, and hath brought forth the 
weapons of his indignation: for the Lord, the Lord of hosts, 
hath a work to do in the land of the Chaldeans. Come against 
her from the utmost border, open her storehouses: cast her 
up as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be 
left. Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: 
woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visita- 
tion. The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land 
of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our 
God, the vengeance of his temple. Call together the archers 
against Babylon, all them that bend the bow; camp against 
her round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her 
according to her work; according to all that she hath done, 
do unto her: for she hath been proud against the Lord, against 
the Holy One of Israel. Therefore shall her young men fall 
in her streets, and all her men of war shall be brought to 
silence in that day, saith the Lord. Behold, I am against thee, 

thou proud one, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts: for thy 
day is come, the time that I will visit thee. And the proud 
one shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and 

1 will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all that 
are round about him. 

**Thus saith the Lord of hosts: The children of Israel 
and the children of Judah are oppressed together: and all that 
took them captives hold them fast; they refuse to let them go. 
Their redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is his name: 
he shall thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest 
to the earth, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon. A 
sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the Lord, and upon the 



54 A Look Through the 

inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her 
wise men. A sword is upon the boasters, and they shall dote: 
a sword is upon her mighty men, and they shall be dismayed. 
A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and 
upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her, and 
they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures, 
and they shall be robbed. A drought is upon her waters, 
and they shall be dried up: for it is a land of graven images, 
and they are mad upon idols. Therefore the wild beasts of the 
desert with the wolves shall dwell there, and the ostriches 
shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for 
ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to genera- 
tion. As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and 
the neighbour cities thereof, saith the Lobd; so shall no man 
dwell there, neither shall any son of man sojourn therein. 
Behold, a people cometh from the north; and a great nation, 
and many kings shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts 
of the earth. They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, 
and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea, and they 
ride upon horses; every one set in array, as a man to the 
battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon. The king of 
Babylon hath heard the fame of them, and his hands wax 
feeble: anguish hath taken hold of him, and pangs as of a 
woman in travail. Behold, he shall come up like a lion from 
the pride of Jordan, against the strong habitation: but I 
will suddenly make them run away from her; and whoso is 
chosen, him will I appoint over her: for who is like me? and 
who will appoint me a time? and who is the shepherd that 
will stand before me? Therefore hear ye the counsel of the 
Lord, that he hath taken against Babylon; and his purposes, 
that he hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: 
Surely they shall drag them away, even the little ones of the 
flock; surely he will make their habitation desolate with them. 
At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth trembleth, and 
the cry is heard among the nations" (Jer. 1. 22-46). 

"For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: The 
daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-floor at the time when 
it is trodden; yet a little while, and the time of harvest shall 
come for her. Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon hath 



Lens of Prophecy. 55 

devoured me, he hath*crushed me, he hath made me an empty 
vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled 
his maw with my delicates; he hath cast me out. The violence 
done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabit- 
ant of Zion say; and. My blood be upon the inhabitants of 
Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say. Therefore thus saith the Lord: 
Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; 
and I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry. And 
Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for jackals, an 
astonishment, and an hissing, without inhabitant. They shall 
roar together like young lions; they shall growl as lions' 
whelps. When they are heated, I will make their feast, and 
I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep 
a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the Loed. I will bring 
them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he- 
goats" (Jer. li. 33-40). 

The manner of taking Babylon will appear 
clearly in the chapter we are to examine. While 
besieged by a threatening army, Belshazzar, in- 
toxicated in his vanity, with the sense of power and 
security, holding superiority and mastery of the 
world, makes a great feast for "a thousand of his 
lords, and drank wine before them'' (v. 5). Ut- 
terly oblivious of the menace of armed soldiery 
without, and defiant and insolent to the God of 
heaven, the impious king Belshazzar orders to be 
brought "the golden and silver vessels which Neb- 
uchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple 
which was in Jerusalem; that the king and his 
lords, his wives and his concubines, might drink 
therein" (v. 2). 

The order was obeyed (v. 3), and "the king and 
his lords, his wives and his concubines," did thus 
wickedly profane and desecrate, blaspheme and 



56 A Look Through the 

soil those sacred vessels, that were made and dedi- 
cated to God for religious and sacred service unto 
him, in the beautiful and holy service of the Jewish 
ritual. If they had ignorantly done this, perhaps 
there would have been excuse. But with knowl- 
edge did they thus debase these sacred emblems 
and vessels, and therefore willfully assumed de- 
fiance to God and took the responsibility of in- 
curring his wrath and judgment. Defiant, because 
*^they drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, 
and silver, and of brass, of iron, of wood, and of 
stone" (v. 4). (That the vessels were associated 
with worship, they understood, for they so em- 
ployed them. These sordid gods of wealth were 
worshiped, because gold and sliver and brass and 
iron and stone made Babylon great, and the king 
rich, and created him the world's power. The 
things that made Jerusalem great were God's 
name, her laws and ordinances, her character and 
individuality, the sacrifice and services of devotion 
to God by the whole nation. These vessels and 
emblems were the utensils of the nation's soul, 
and stood for the attributes and qualities of the 
human mind, in this typical and significantly ex- 
emplary nation. 

While this profanity, drunken debauchery and 
wicked revelry, full of all licentiousness, lust and 
voluptuous sin, was in progress, and God's sacred 
vessels, designed for the loftiest employment of 
man's spiritual exercise, were brought into igno- 
miny and disgrace, and polluted by the vile ferment 
and intoxicating drink of inebriety, tarnished by 
the breath of foul and corroding lust, "the fingers 



Lens of Prophecy. 57 

of a man's hand wrote over against the candlestick 
upon the plaister of the wall of the king's palace : 
and the king saw" (v. 5). Then there was a pause 
in the gay whirl of giddy pleasure, a hush of the 
music pulsating to the chant and song of ribaldry 
and shame, a stillness to the light and fairy trip 
of the Chaldean dance, and in profound silence 
the king stood, while his "countenance was 
changed in him, and his thoughts troubled him; 
and the joints of his loins were loosed, and his 
knees smote one against another" (v. 6). 

Here was a strange and marvelous occurrence. 
Alarm has seized hold upon the king. Weak, wicked 
and wretched, his vile and contemptible soul re- 
coils before the unusual phenomenon. It was said 
of him : 

"The king shall be seized in an instant with an 
incredible terror and perturbation of mind : *My 
loins are filled with pain; pangs have taken hold 
upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth ; 
I was bowed down at the hearing of it ; I was dis- 
mayed at the seeing of it; my heart panted, fear- 
fulness affrighted me; the night of my pleasure 
hath he turned into fear unto me' ( Isa. xxi. 3, 4 ) . 
This is the condition Belshazzar was in, when, in 
the middle of the entertainment, he saw a hand 
come out of the wall, which wrote such characters 
upon it as none of his divines could either explain 
or read ; but more especially when Daniel declared 
to him that those characters imported the sentence 
of death. The terror, astonishment, fainting and 
trembling of Belshazzar are here described and ex- 
pressed in the same manner by the prophet, who 



58 A Look Through the 

was an eye-witness of them (Dan. v. 5), as they 
were by the prophet who foretold them two hun- 
dred years before. 

"But Isaiah must have had an extraordinary 
measure of divine illumination, to be able to add, 
immediately after the description of Belshazzar's 
consternation, the following words: Trepare the 
table, watch in the watch-tower; eat, drink' (Isa. 
xxi. 5). The prophet foresees that Belshazzar, 
though dismayed and confounded at first, shall re- 
cover his courage and spirits, through the exhor- 
tation of his courtiers; but more particularly 
through the persuasion of the queen, his mother, 
who represented to him the unreasonableness of 
being affected with such unmanly fears and unnec- 
essary alarms. ^Let not thy thoughts trouble thee, 
nor let thy countenance be changed' (Dan. v. 10). 
They will exhort him, therefore, to make himself 
easy ; to satisfy himself with giving proper orders, 
and with the assurance of being advertised of every- 
thing by the vigilance of the sentinels ; to order the 
rest of the supper to be served, as if nothing hap- 
pened ; and recall the gayety and joy which his ex- 
cessive fear had banished from the table : Trepare 
the table, watch in the watch-tower; eat, drink.'" 
— Rollings Ancient History. 

In his puzzled and perplexed extremity, at the 
awe and wonder of the strange event, the royal 
head of drunken Babylon offers a reward — the in- 
signia of royalty, the embellishments of splendor 
and wealth, and rulership with the kingly house 
(v. 7) — to whomsoever would read these Hebrew 
expressions, and give their silent import and Intel- 



Lens of Prophecy. 59 

ligent translation to the Chaldean tongue. The 
learned body ( ? ) , the king's counselors, consisting 
of enchanters, the Chaldeans and the soothsayers 
(v. 7), failed to divine its meaning, to read and 
interpret God's message (v. 8). 

"Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his 
countenance was changed in him, and his lords were per- 
plexed" (v. 9). 

But Nitocris, the queen and mother of Belshaz- 
zar, coming upon the scene in the midst of the con- 
sternation of the banquet chamber, spake and said : 

"0 king, live forever; let not thy thoughts trouble thee, 
nor let thy countenance be changed: there is a man in thy 
kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the 
days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like 
the wisdom of the gods, was found in him: and the king 
Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made 
him master of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and 
soothsayers; forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, 
and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing of 
dark sentences, and dissolving of doubts, was found in the 
same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let 
Daniel be called, and he will shew the interpretation" (vs. 
10-12). 

Daniel was accordingly brought in. The king 
asked: 

"Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the 
captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out 
of Judah? I have heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods 
is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wis- 
dom is found in thee. And now the wise men, the enchanters, 
have been brought in before me, that they should read this 
writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof: 
but they could not shew the interpretation of the thing. But 



60 'A Look Through the 

I have heard of thee, that thou canst give interpretations, and 
dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make 
known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed 
with purple, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt 
be the third ruler in the kingdom" (vs. 13-16). 

DaniePs answer: 

"Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to an- 
other; nevertheless I will read the writing unto the king, and 
make known to him the interpretation. O thou king, the 
Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father the kingdom, 
and greatness, and glory, and majesty: and because of the 
greatness that he gave him, all the peoples, nations, and lan- 
guages trembled and feared before him: whom he would he 
slew, and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would 
he raised up, and whom he would he put down. But when his 
heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened that he dealt 
proudly, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they 
took his glory from him; and he was driven from the sons of 
men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling 
was with the wild asses; he was fed with grass like oxen, and 
his body was wet with the dew of heaven: until he knew that 
the Most High God ruleth in the kingdom of men, and that 
he setteth up over it whomsoever he will. And thou his son, 
O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knew- 
est all this; but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of 
heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before 
thee, and thou and thy lords, thy wives and thy concubines, 
have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods 
of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which 
see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy 
breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified: 
then was the part of the hand sent from before him, and this 
writing was inscribed. And this is the writing that was in- 
scribed, ME^TE, MENE, TEKEL, uPHAESix. This is the inter- 
pretation of the thing: mene; God hath numbered thy king- 
dom, and brought it to an end. tekel; thou art weighed in. 
the balances, and art found wanting, peees; thy kingdom 



Lens of Prophecy, 61 

is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. Then com- 
manded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with purple, and 
put a chain of gold about his neck, and made proclamation 
concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the 
kingdom. In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was 
slain. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being 
about threescore and two years old" (vs. 17-31). 

"At the same time that men are giving their 
orders, God on his part is likewise giving his: 
^4rise, ye princes, and anoint the shield' (Isa. xxi. 
5). It is God himself that commands the princes 
to advance, to take their arms, and to enter boldly 
into a city drowned in wine, or buried in sleep." — 
Rollin. 

"Isaiah acquaints us with two material and im- 
portant circumstances concerning the taking of 
Babylon. The first is, that the troops with which it 
is filled, shall not keep ground or stand firm any- 
where, neither at the palace nor the citadel, nor 
any other public place whatsoever ; that they shall 
desert and leave one another, without thinking of 
anything but making their escape ; that in running 
away they shall disperse themselves, and take dif- 
ferent roads, just as a flock of deer, or of sheep, is 
dispersed and scattered when they are affrighted: 
^And it shall be as a chased roe, and as a sheep that 
no man taketh up' (lb. xiii. 14). The second cir- 
cumstance is, that the greatest part of those troops, 
though they were in the Babylonian service and 
pay, were not Babylonians; and that they shall 
return unto the provinces from whence they came, 
without being pursued by the conquerors : because 
the divine vengeance was chiefly to fall upon the 



62 A Look Through the 

citizens of Babylon: ^They shall turn every man 
to his own people, and flee every one into his own 
land' (Isa. xiii. 14).'' — Rollin. 

"The last circumstance which the prophet fore- 
tells, is the death of the king himself, whose body is 
to have no burial, and the entire extinction of the 
royal family; both which calamities are described 
in the Scripture, in a manner equally terrible and 
instructive to all princes. ^But thou art cast out 
of thy grave, like an abominable branch. Thou 
shalt not be joined with them [thy ancestors] in 
burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and 
slain thy people' (lb. xiv. 19, 20). That king is 
justly forgotten who has never remembered that 
he ought to be the protector and father of his peo- 
ple. He that has lived only to ruin and destroy 
his country, is unworthy of the common privilege 
of burial. As he has been an enemy to mankind, 
he ought to have no place amongst them. He was 
like the wild beasts of the field, and, like them, he 
should be buried; and since he had no sentiments 
of humanity himself, he deserves to meet with no 
humanity from others. This is the sentence which 
God himself pronounced against Belshazzar; and 
the malediction extends itself to his children, who 
were looked upon as his associates in the throne, 
and as the source of a long posterity and succession 
of kings, and were entertained with nothing by the 
flattering courtiers but the pleasing prospects and 
ideas of their future grandeur. Prepare slaughter 
for his children (Dan. v. 1-29), for the iniquity 
of their fathers; that they do not rise nor possess 
the land. For I will rise up against them, saith the 



Lens of Prophecy, 63 

Lord of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name 
and remnant, and son and nephew, saith the 
Lord.' ''—Rollin. 

So much for the overthrow of Babylon. God 
reigns and his cause triumphs in the earth! Let 
us find practical teachings for ourselves from these 
events. 

Man is the temple of God on earth. "Know ye 
not that ye are the temple of God?" — Paul. Man 
is the image of his Maker. "In the image of God 
created he him/' The realm of man's influence is 
his empire. Of this, the individual man is the sov- 
ereign. Every human being, therefore, is a born 
king. Within man there is combined the temple 
and sanctuary, the one for holy and religious ser- 
vice, the other for capital and throne in which man 
sits, the monarch of his mighty empire. For this 
dual house there are dual purposes in life: the 
honor and worship of Deity; the duty and service 
of man. With care, let us not overthrow the temple 
of God, to the profit and renown of worldliness. 

Man's heart, or soul, has many attributes : rea- 
son, memory, ideality, imagination, penetration, 
perception, reflection, and many more. These are 
the holy vessels of the house of God. Let us not 
profane the temple, nor desecrate these golden 
utensils, made for the beautiful service of Deity 
and human life, calculated to bring happiness, 
prosperity and peace to the inhabitants of our indi- 
vidual empires. 

Some have erred ; have grown idolatrous ; have 
been besieged by the armies of sin, who have forced 
the citadel of human defense while they reveled; 



64 A Look Through the 

were drowned in wine, or were asleep, duped by the 
influence of rum. Their temple's walls were 
stormed, crushed down and the city invaded. The 
Holy Place was profaned by the feet of sin. The 
beautiful house of God was demolished, and the 
sacred vessels thereof carried away to the Baby- 
ion of man's confusion and ruin. 

The scene is changed. He is yet a king, but of 
an iniquitous city. He musters the resources of 
his empire about him. Fallen and dragged from 
the temple of purity, he would make the most of 
temporal life. He becomes defiant, coarse, vulgar 
and dead to the sensibilities of decency and refine- 
ment. He defies the powers. He defies purity, in- 
nocency. He defies and ignores God. Abandoned, 
he commands the gold and silver vessels to be 
brought that were taken from the sacred temple 
of his Jerusalem of strength. In his base revelings 
and imaginations, "his wives and his concubines," 
his lords and nobles drink therein. 

The man of sin is wedded to many causes. He 
has formed many unholy alliances. He holds rev- 
elry, banquet and dance. His impious hand takes 
hold upon the golden vessels of thought, the beau- 
tiful chalice of reason, the silver plate of memory, 
the many precious and holy attributes of his godly 
nature, and prostitutes them to the most unholy 
and sensual purposes. In them he drinks the wine 
of human intoxication; vanity spreads her silken 
folds about him, pride exalts him, and, covered 
over with the tinsel of show, he is lifted above his 
fellows, and in the luxury and extravagance of a 



Lens of Prophecy. 65 

deceitful, intemperate, immoderate court, he cher- 
ishes the delusion of safety, peace, perpetuity. Mis- 
taken happiness! The song of hilarity is not the 
song of mirth! The chant of discordant music is 
not the song of peace and deliverance. Harmony 
is not there. In the same hour of human abandon- 
ment comes "forth the fingers of a man's hand." 
It writes. Its message is inscribed "over against 
the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of 
the king's palace." And what is it? "Who hath 
wo? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who 
hath complaining? who hath wounds without a 
cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry 
long at the wine ; they that go to seek mixed wine." 
"It is not for kings to drink wine, O Lemuel." "The 
drunkard can not enter into the kingdom of 
heaven." 

Ah! now the countenance of the king is 
changed. Where the childish innocency and glee 
of youth? Where is his noble manhood? Where 
the king of which the princely youth gave promise? 
Now his thoughts trouble him. His "joints and 
loins are loosed." His knees smite together. Pit- 
eous wail! The wail of the drunkard is the wail 
of the lost. The man is delirious. Ten thousand 
demons surround his wretched and terror-stricken 
frame. "Weighed in the balances and found want- 
ing." Babylon is taken. Her rivers are turned 
into pools, and the miasm of sin hangs over it as 
the pall of death. Unclean and unholy life inhabits 
it. The curse of God clings to the very dust, and 
no longer is her name great among men. 



66 A Look Through the 

And thus the sinful influence of life overrides 
and crushes down the victim to the grave. De- 
thrones him of his kingship. Despoils his princi- 
pality. Mocks at his calamity. And when emptied 
of the rich jewel of virtue, robbed of the utensils 
that subserve a nobler life, hope obliterated, he goes 
dejected and doomed, the exile and serf, hanging 
upon the fringe of life's existence, until the last 
heart-throb of misery pulses through the poisoned 
avenues of a weary, defiled frame. He sinks into 
the cold, dark and hopeless abyss of oblivion, a 
ruined possibility, who ravished and wasted the 
brightest and best opportunities that come to men 
— the opportunity to ornament and regale life with 
the splendors of nobility; the embellishment of a 
cultured and useful manhood ; a life of purpose, of 
action, with the power for a final and glorious con- 
summation, the brightest ideals of animated hope 
possible for inspiring youth to draw upon the 
imagery of thought ; all shattered, lie in the grave 
and wreckage of ruined prospects. 

Nor let us forget, while the insolent and rebel- 
lious, the sinful, may rob the temple of manhood, 
pollute and destroy it, yet Jesus has vanquished 
the foe of man, and will grant privileges for the 
rebuilding of the temple, restoring its defenses, 
and will admit to the repentant of heart, a return- 
ing to his former estate, and a restoration of the 
holy utensils of mind and soul. Eeplanting the 
seeds of heart virtues, he will clothe again the mind 
with reason and place it once more upon the throne 
of its own destiny. 



I 



Lens of Prophecy, 67 



CHAPTER VI. 

Daniels's Deliverance. 

(Dan. vi.) 

Babylon being taken by the Medes and Per- 
sians, Cyrus made the aged Cyaxares, or Darius 
the Mede, his uncle, the king of Babylon (Dan. v. 
31 ) . Darius set over the kingdom one hundred and 
twenty satraps, or governors, "which should be 
throughout the whole kingdom." These were pre- 
sided over by three presidents, Daniel constituting 
one of the number. The governors gave report to 
these three presidents of the affairs of the kingdom. 
These presidents stood, therefore, next to the 
throne. Because of his excellency, a man divinely 
tutored, faithful in his spiritual life and service to 
his God, Daniel was distinguished for his princi- 
ples of equity and justice; his ruling was equita- 
ble, above all these governors and presidents, for 
which Darius "thought to set him over the whole 
realm" (v. 3). This inspired the jealousy of the 
presidents and satraps, who organized a conspiracy 
against Daniel, to take his life. They could find, 
no cause of lawful action through technicalities in 
his dispensing the affairs of the kingdom, by which 
they might effect his overthrow, for "he was faith- 
ful, neither was there any error or fault found in 
him." There was no vulnerable point of attack 
which the meshes of the law might afford them ; no 
unobserved technicalities which so often entrap 
men into danger. To accomplish their malicious 



68 A Look Through the 

and hateful end, they mnst at some point cause the 
religion of this devoted and faithful servant to 
cross the edict of their Oriental monarch (v. 5). 
Accordingly, they assemble in the presence of the 
king. A lie is upon their lips. They flatteringly 
speak an untruth to their king. They say: 

"All the presidents of the kingdom, the deputies and the 
satraps, the counsellors and the governors, have consulted to- 
gether to establish a royal statute, and to make a strong in- 
terdict, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man 
for thirty days, save of thee, king, he shall be cast into the 
den of lions. Now, king, establish the interdict, and sign 
the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of 
the Medes and Persians, which altereth not" (vs. 7, 8). 

Daniel was one of these officers, and he was not 
in their counsel. They came before the king with 
not only malicious intent, but with lying lips. In 
this appeal, they would tickle the vanity of the 
king and cause him to realize the great authority 
of his word in such a law, and to clothe the people 
with fear at the utterance of his voice. The execu- 
tion of such a horrid penalty would cause every 
worshiper of the true God to forfeit the privileges 
of conscience, or life for the sake of conscience. 

Upon the recommendation of those standing in 
authority, and the supporters of his government, 
Darius signed the interdict (v. 9.) It proved the 
king to be lame in his vanity, like many a poten- 
tate; like most of the human race. 

Daniel learned of the decree, and probably was 
the first to receive the intellig^^nce, standing so 
near this mighty sovereign. The die is cast. The 
seal of death is upon him, for "the law of the 



Lens of Prophecy. 69 

Medes and Persians altereth not." What should 
Daniel do? The God he had so well and so long 
served, should he now cancel his spiritual authority 
over him — the God who had granted him so many 
benefits and such wonderful success? 

"He went into his house; (now his windows were open 
in his chamber toward Jerusalem;) and he kneeled upon his 
knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before 
his God, as he did aforetime" (v. 10). 

He did right, and consequences must care for 
themselves. His windows were open toward Jeru- 
salem, and Daniel is exposed plainly to view. 

"Then these men assembled together, and found Daniel 
making peTition and supplication before his God. Then they 
came near, and spake before the king concerning the king's 
interdict; Hast thou not signed an interdict, that every man 
that shall make petition unto any god or man within thirty 
days, save unto thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? 
The king answered and said. The thing is true, according to 
the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not. Then 
answered they and said before the king. That Daniel, which 
is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not 
thee, O king, nor the interdict that thou hast signed, but 
maketh his petition three times a day. Then the king, when 
he heard these words, was sore displeased, and set his heart 
on Daniel to deliver him: and he laboured till the going 
down of the sun to rescue him. Then these men assembled 
together unto the king, and said unto the king. Know, O 
king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians, that no 
interdict nor statute which the king establisheth may be 
changed" (vs. 11-15). 

These jealous politicians would not relent, not- 
withstanding the desires of the king. They press 
the execution of the law. They, themselves, the 



70 A Look Through the 

honorable men, were the framers of the law, the 
detectives of the crime, and the witnesses in the 
prosecution. Nothing can be done but the imme- 
diate arrest, sentence and execution of Daniel. 
Speedily shall the head of Darius' court be de- 
posed of his princely office. How impatient are the 
unjust! Unduly eager for the consummation of 
their evil purpose! Daniel dead, and then the 
squabble for promotion and favoritism among 
themselves. 

The king had failed to extricate Daniel from 
the entanglement into which his carelessness un- 
wittingly precipitated him. Respect of the law, 
however unmerciful, impelled him to sign the death 
warrant. With sorrow of heart, he pressed his 
signet upon the cruel writ ; upon Daniel, the words 
of a sure hope. 

"Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and 
cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said 
unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will 
deliver thee" (v. 16). 

Then a stone was placed over the den. It was 
"sealed with his own signet, and with the signet of 
his lords; that nothing might be changed concern- 
ing Daniel" (v. 17). How beautiful is faith, even 
manifested by a heathen king. It was his last ex- 
tremity for the salvation of Daniel. Beautiful the 
type — Daniel in this grave of death, for the return 
and restoration of Israel ; Christ buried in ' the 
tomb for the salvation, emancipation and deliver- 
ance of the race from the thralldom of sin, and its 
restoration to the "beautiful Zion built above." 



Lens of Prophecy, 71 

Christ, the author of our life, the Saviour of the 
same, entered into death, and there faced the sav- 
age enemy of man, "^the last enemy to be over- 
come," grappled with him on the vantage-ground of 
sin, the plane of death, and came forth a triumph- 
ant conqueror over sin, death and the grave. 

"Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night 
fasting: neither were instruments of music brought before 
him: and his sleep fled from him" (v. 18). 

In anguish of spirit, he could have no joy or 
revelry around him with Daniel undelivered from 
an unjust and cruel judgment. And with Christ 
suffering the pangs of persecuted sorrow, and the 
twangs of death falling like thunderbolts upon his 
heart. Deity veiled his face from the horrid scene, 
and angelic harps ceased to vibrate the symphony 
of heaven, and angelic voices were dumb, when the 
Prince of Life passed into death — "to reconcile all 
things unto himself, having made peace through 
the blood of his cross ; through him I say, whether 
things upon the earth, or things in the heavens" 
(Col. i. 20). 

"Then the king arose very early in the morning, and 
went in haste unto the den of lions" (v. 19). 

How nearly alike to the disciples' early visit 
to the burial-place of Jesus. 

"And when he came near unto the den to Daniel, he cried 
with a lamentable voice: the king spake and said to Daniel, 
O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou 
servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?" (v. 
20). 



72 A Look Through the 

And so our God was able to raise up Christ, 
when midnight darkness hung over the mind of 
hope. The yearning and lamenting heart of Mary 
cried out of its grief, as she hastened to his grave, 
wishing, at least, a right to his remains. 

"Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever. 
My God hath sent his angel, and hath shnt the lions' months, 
and they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him inno- 
cency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have 
I done no hurt" (v. 21). 

And so, also, of the innocent Son of God, in 
whom was found no guile; death had no place for 
him. God sent his angels; one was found at the 
Head and one at the foot of the Lord's sepulchre. 

"Then was the king exceeding glad, and commanded that 
they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was 
taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found 
upon him, because he had trusted in his God" (v. 23). 

Now let the king of Babylon represent the 
world. And the world shall be glad, ^^so many as 
shall be saved," at least, because of the glorified 
life of its Prince of Peace. 

"Joy to the world, the Lord is come, 

Let earth receive her King; 
Let every heart prepare him room. 
And heaven and nature sing." 

And now what becomes of the jealous courtiers 

of the king? 

"And the king commanded, and they brought those men 
which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den 
of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions 
had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces, 
or ever they came at the bottom of the den" (v. 24). 



Lens of Prophecy, 73 

This transaction was not the decree of Jehovah. 
Darius the king did as he pleased in this matter. 
Whether his action was justifiable in this whole- 
sale execution of the criminals about his court, 
the reader may judge. It is the decree of justice 
that the wicked shall perish in the end, and they 
who plot against our Saviour, and purpose ruin 
to him, and the destruction of his government, will 
reap death as the reward of their iniquitous de- 
signs. 

God was honored and exalted in the triumph of 
righteousness in these events. 

"Then king Darius wrote unto all the peoples, nations, 
and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied 
unto you. I make a decree, that in all the dominion of my 
kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for 
he is the living God, and stedfast for ever, and his kingdom 
that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall 
be even unto the end: he delivereth and rescueth, and he 
worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth; who hath 
delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. So this Daniel 
prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus 
the Persian" (vs. 25-28). 

God's purpose in interposition for Daniel was 
the restoration of Israel. Israel was restored (so 
much as would return) preparatory to the coming 
of Christ. Hence these miracles performed for 
Daniel were no more for his immediate safety and 
preservation and happiness than our own eternal 
welfare. God will not deliver every prayerful man 
from the peril of physical death. Such work is 
wrought by him when grand purposes are to be sub- 
served. 



74 A hook Through the 

Do you see the Hebrew captive kneeling. 
At morning, noon and night, to pray? 

In his chamber he remembers Zion, 
Tho' in exile far away. 

Do not fear to tread the fiery furnace, 

Nor shrink the lions' den to share ; 
For the God of Daniel will deliver. 

He will send an angel there. 

Children of the living God, take courage; 

Your great deliverance sweetly sing: 
Set your faces toward the hill of Zion, 

Thence to hail our coming King. 

Are your windows open toward Jerusalem, 
Tho' as captives here a little while we stay? 

For the coming of the King in his glory. 
Are you watching day by day? 

—P. P. Bliss. 



Lens of Prophecy, 75 



CHAPTER VII. 

From Babylon to Christ ; or, Daniel's Vision op 
THE Ages. 

(Dan. vii.) 

The events of the last chapter transpired about 
536 B. C. The vision was had "in the first year of 
Belshazzar, king of Babylon," and must date about 
555 B. C, as given by the historian. 

"Daniel had a dream, and visions of his head 
upon his bed." And here it is : 

"I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four 
winds of the heaven brake forth upon the great sea. And four 
great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. 
The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till 
the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the 
earth, and made to stand upon two feet as a man, and a man's 
heart was given to it. And behold another beast, a second, 
like to a bear, and it was raised up on one side, and three 
ribs were in his mouth between his teeth: and they said unto 
it. Arise, devour much flesh. After this I beheld, and lo an- 
other, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four 
wings as of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and do- 
minion was given to it. After this I saw in the night visions, 
and behold a fourth beast, terrible and powerful, and strong 
exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and 
brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet: and 
it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it 
had ten horns. I considered the horns, and, behold, there 
came up among them another horn, a little one, before which 
three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots: and, 
behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and 
a mouth speaking great things. I beheld till thrones were 



T6 ^A Look Through the 

placed, and one that was ancient of days did sit: his raiment 
was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; 
his throne was fiery flames, and the wheels thereof burning 
fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: 
thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand 
times ten thousand stood before him: the judgement was set, 
and the books were opened. I beheld at that time because 
of the voice of the great words which the horn spake; I be- 
held even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, 
and he was given to be burned with fire. And as for the rest 
of the beasts, their dominion was taken away: yet their lives 
were prolonged for a season and a time. I saw in the night 
visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of heaven 
one like unto a son of man, and he came even to the ancient 
of days, and they brought him near before him. And there 
was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all 
the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his 
dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass 
away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed" 
(vs. 2-14). 

The interpretation. Here is the "truth con- 
cerning all of this"; or "the interpretation of the 
things" : 

"These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which 
shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High 
shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, 
even for ever and ever. Then I desired to know the truth 
concerning the fourth beast, which wa? diverse from all of 
them, exceeding terrible, whose teeth were of iron, and his 
nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped 
the residue with his feet; and concerning the ten horns that 
were on his head, and the other horn which came up, and 
before which three fell; even that horn that had eyes, and a 
mouth that spake great things, whose look was more stout 
than his fellows. I beheld, and the same horn made war with 
the saints, and prevailed against them; until the ancient of 
days came, and judgement was given to the saints of the Most 



Lens of Prophecy. 77 

High; and the time eame that the saints possessed the king- 
dom. Thus he said. The fourth beast shall be a fourth king- 
dom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all the kingdoms, 
and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, 
and break it in pieces. And as for the ten horns, out of this 
kingdom shall ten kings arise: and another shall arise after 
them; and he shall be diverse from the former, and he shall 
put down three kings. And he shall speak words against the 
Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High: 
and he shall think to change the times and the law; and they 
shall be given into his hand until a time and times and half 
a time. But the judgement shall sit, and they shall take away 
his dominion, to consume and destroy it unto the end. And 
the kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the king- 
doms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people 
of the saints of the Most High: his kingdom is an everlasting 
kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. Here 
is the end of the matter" (vs. 17-28). 

The dream, or vision, has been recited, and the 
interpretation thereof has been given. We will 
now draw the diagram of our analysis of this 
prophecy in its extent of time, and then talk a little 
of its historic fulfillment, its reach of vision, and 
its application to the world's affairs and the des- 
tiny of its people. ( For diagram, see p. 79. ) 

The four beasts are four kings, or kingdoms. 
The saints of the Most High shall at last conquer 
the whole world, and possess it for Christ forever. 
DaniePs great concern is for, or about, the fourth 
beast, or government, and inquires not into the 
matter or particulars of the first three kingdoms 
(v. 19). He wishes to consider the last with its 
complexities and strange characteristics. The first 
three had already an existence, and which had here- 
tofore come under the observation of Daniel. The 



78 A Look Through the 

new and added creature is the one he now desires 
explained to him, and more perfectly defined. 

In his night vision Daniel saw the "four 
winds of heaven break forth upon the great sea." 
Sea, here, is symbolical of peoples, humanity uni- 
versally, it being "the great sea." The "four 
winds," political influences from the four quarters 
of the earth. 

Following this agitation "four great beasts 
come up from the sea," or from the people, beasts 
being symbolical of governments or powers. 

The first beast was Babylon. Its attributes and 
characteristics are common to her description in a 
former vision. It was lion-like. It was bold, fero- 
cious. The "king of kings," the one great, power- 
ful, rich monarchy among the world's kings. He 
conquered all he beheld. He had eagle's wings. 
It soared high in its attainments. "Is not this 
great Babylon which I have built, ... by the might 
of my power, and for the glory of my majesty?" 
"It is thou, O king, that art grown and become 
strong: for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth 
unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the 
earth." Hence, she was represented by eagle's 
wings in the prophecy, since it could soar unto 
heaven, and whose dominion was the earth. 

"Beheld till the wings thereof were plucked." 
God humbled the pride of her mightiest monarch, 
following his boast of superiority and greatness. 
He cast his lot among the beasts, and, after due 
humiliation, placed him upon his feet as a sane, 
rational man, and a human heart was given him, 
and he adored the God of heaven and earth. The 



Lens of Prophecy, 



79 



LION -HAD EAGLES WINGS^ BABYLON 

MEDO- 



600B.C. 

500B.C. 

PERSIAN 400 B.C, 

300 




80 A Look Through the 

time given for Babylon's supremacy we mark from 
the Jewish captivity, 588 B. C, to her overthrow 
by Cyrus, 538 B. C. 

Babylon had prior existence, but she had su- 
premacy only when she put the nations beneath her 
feet and held them in subordination, or captivity. 

The second beast was like a bear (v. 5). It 
was raised up on one side in the vision. The Medo- 
Persian Empire is here represented. The Persian 
side being the stronger, it was raised higher than 
the other side. It revived the feebler government 
and combined in one. "Three ribs were in its mouth 
between its teeth." The armies of this aroused 
and hungry beast, according to other prophecies, 
were marshaled by the command of God, to do his 
service toward Babylon. The three ribs between 
its teeth were the rewards of its conquest. Destruc- 
tion of much life. These ribs stand for the three 
governments, Babylon, Egypt and Syria, against 
which the armies of the Medo-Persian power came 
with crushing effect. 

The next is the leopard empire and pertains to 
the Grecian supremacy. It had upon its back four 
wings of a fowl. The leopard represents the char- 
acter of the Grecian diplomat and warrior. It is 
represented as rapid in its movements by the pres- 
ence of wings. Those of a fowl would indicate it 
to be more domestic, or civilized and democratic, 
in its character. Though modified from the usual 
ferocity of wild beasts, yet the leopard preserves 
the idea of its swiftness in the execution of its 
desicrns. 



Lens of Prophecy,* 181 

This beast "had also four heads," and repre- 
sents the four divisions of the Grecian Government, 
in its dismemberment after the death of Alexander 
the Great, who wrested the supremacy of govern- 
ments from the Medo-Persian Empire. These four 
divisions were formed under the head and by the 
authority of Alexander's four leading generals, to- 
wit: (1) Cassander, who received Macedon and 
Greece; (2) Lysimachus, who received Thrace and 
nearly all of Asia Minor; (3) Seleucus, who re- 
ceived Syria and the East, and afterwards con- 
quered Asia Minor; (4) Ptolemy, who received 
Egypt, and conquered all of Palestine, Phoenicia 
and Cyprus. 

"Dominion was given it" (v. 6). Time allotted 
for Grecian supremacy extended from 331 B. 0. to 
145 B. C. 

THE "exceeding TERRIBLE" BEAST. 

The fourth beast represents the Roman suprem- 
acy. This one aroused the special interest of Dan- 
iel. It extends from 145 B. C, in its several forms 
of power and influence — the temporal, ecclesias- 
tico-temporal, and the ecclesiastico-surreptitious — 
to 1932 A. D. 

This beast was terrible and powerful. There 
was terror in the very name of Roman. Its army 
was terrible and shook the earth. Its imperial au- 
thority was terrible and affected the most extreme 
inhabitant of the civilized world. More terrible 
still was it in its spiritual usurpations. 

This empire extended its influence to the ends 
of the earth. She conquered all peoples, crunched 



82 A Look Through the 

with her iron teeth the flesh of nations, and with 
her unfeeling hands exacted tribute to support her 
awful traffic in blood — the military. "It was di- 
verse from all the beasts [or governments] that 
were before it" (vs. 7, 19). 

"And it had ten horns" (v. 8). "Horn" is the 
symbol of power, or government ; therefore has ref- 
erence to ten governments or kingdoms, and were 
the ten divisions of Rome ; viz. : The Huns, Goths, 
Franks, Alans, Vandals, Burgundians, Longobards 
(Lombards), Allemanns, Angles, Saxons. 

"And, behold, there came up among them another horn, a 
little one" (v. 8). 

"Whose look was more stout than his fellows" (v. 20). 

The little horn that came up among the ten 
horns, or the little power, or government, that 
arose amid the greater powers of the afore-given 
kingdoms, was the Papal power. The ecclesiastical 
department of the Roman Government existed be- 
fore the Papal head was formed. Ecclesiasticism 
existed because a creed was formed, had been ac- 
cepted by the Government of Rome, the empire 
having subscribed thereto through its official heads. 
Christ had said, "My kingdom is not of this world." 
While it is in the world, and has to do with the 
tangible world, his kingdom formed no part of 
temporal government. Had the church been en- 
tirely held apart from statecraft, there could not 
have existed an ecclesiastical tyranny, a religious 
aristocracy, which finally usurped the complete 
and entire control of temporal affairs. 



Lens of Prophecy, 83 

The apostate church became a part of the world, 
was of the world, hence it was not, is not, can not 
be, of Christ. His own words for it. But the crea- 
tion of pope succeeded the creation of creed. Tem- 
poral rulers can not stand upon a divine authorita- 
tive platform. The elevated plane of divine affairs 
is beyond the reach of carnal ambition, or the con- 
trol of human depravity. 

The three horns, or powers, which the Papal 
horn, or power, plucked up were: The kingdom of 
the Lombards, the state of Rome, and the Greek 
Exarchate. "Rome was constantly at the mercy of 
the bold and ferocious Lombards. They threatened 
to sack the Holy City, and possess themselves of 
its vast wealth. In 734, Gregory III. induced 
Chas. Martel to help him against the attacks of 
Luitprand, King of the Lombards. Again, when 
Charlemagne's father, Pepin, was aspiring to de- 
stroy the Merovingian dynasty. Pope Zacharias 
gave his official approval to the deposition of the 
Merovingian king, Childeric III., and in this way 
caused Pepin to be placed upon the throne, and to 
become the founder of the Carolingian dynasty. 
This obligation of the emperor of the Franks to 
the pope was never forgotten during Pepin's reign. 
Later, Pope Stephen II. personally visited Pepin, 
in France, and secured his pledge to come down 
with his army, and defend him against the new 
Lombard chief Astolph, who had invaded the Greek 
Exarchate — a group of five cities and the interly- 
ing territory along the eastern coast, extending 
from Rimini of Ancona. Astolph was also besieg- 
ing Rome. Pepin defeated the Lombards, took pos- 



84 A Look Through the 

session of the Exarchate himself, and appointed 
the pope as patrician of the Exarchate. The pope 
was thns made a temporal ruler. It mattered 
not that the Exarchate was a part of the Byzantine 
Empire, and that protests were made against it. 
Pepin gave, and Stephen II. took. This was the 
beginning of the temporal sovereignty of the 
Papacy, which only came to an end after a reign 
of eleven centuries, or in 1871 A. D., when Gari- 
baldi and Victor Emmanuel marched into Rome." 
— Eurst Med. History, 

"The final and complete cementing of Papal 
and imperial interests took place under Charle- 
magne. Desiderius, the new Lombard king, in- 
vaded the pope's territory and laid siege to Rome. 
Adrian I., the now reigning pope, appealed to Char- 
lemagne for help. It was given, and Charlemagne 
invaded Italy with a great army, and defeated the 
Lombards. He confirmed and enlarged the pre- 
vious gifts to the pope, went to Rome, and was re- 
ceived with great pomp by Pope Leo III. By a 
clever piece of stage management, in the midst of 
the magnificent Christmas festivities of the year 
800, Leo. III. advanced toward Charlemagne and 
placed upon his head a golden crown, with these 
words: *Life and victory to Charles Augustus, 
crowned by God the great and pacific emperor.' " — 
E. M. E. 

The Papal power, of course, was that of the 
pope or Roman bishop. "Pope, a term applied in the 
Greek Church to all priests, and originally used 
in the same manner also in the western church, but 
in the latter part of the fifth century it began to be 



I 



Lens of Prophecy, 65 

applied exclusively to the Bishop of Rome, and 
since the time of Gregory VII. (1073-85), it has 
become his official title." — Johnson's Cyclopedia. 

These recitations of history will help us to un- 
derstand the creation of this spiritual or ecclesi- 
astical ruler — the pope. He, the Roman Bishop, 
was the weak and tame power — the little horn — 
that found a beginning by the aid of the emperors 
of Rome ; became recognized in temporal authority, 
and grew to be a mighty power, that power (or 
horn ) "that had eyes, and a mouth that spake great 
things, whose look was more stout than his fel- 
lows.'' Stronger than the ten powers. 

This Roman Bishop was made the universal 
bishop of the world in 606 A. D., and because of the 
usurpation of this universal authority over the 
souls of men, this date (606 A. D.) must be ob- 
served as the time or period when this "little" 
power "came up." It grew to be strong when it 
received the strength of three other powers, and at 
last became a powerful sovereign in Europe. 

"And I beheld, and the same horn made war 
with the saints, and prevailed against them." The 
Roman ecclesiastical government waged war and 
persecution against the true followers of Christ. 
The history of Europe is black with its crimes of 
infamy in the name of religion. It has literally 
and relentlessly opposed and coerced, vexed and 
harassed, tortured and slain, crushed and annihi- 
lated every semblance of independent and free wor- 
ship, so far as its power could accomplish it in its 
extent. It has never recanted from this policy. 
Liberty has measurably awed and repulsed its ap- 



86 A Look Through the 

gressive, insolent and intolerant spirit, yet it is 
the sworn enemy of freedom, and the greatest con- 
flicts against this power are yet to come. For "the 
horn made war with the saints, and prevailed 
against them ; until the ancient of days came, and 
judgement was given to the saints of the Most 
High ; and the time came that the saints possessed 
the kingdom" (vs. 21, 22). Christ has not yet 
come. The saints do not possess the kingdom of 
this world, and Komanism will yet prevail against 
us until the end of Jewish indignation, or till the 
times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. 

Kome runs our government at her will. Her 
intentions and resolutions respecting Protestant- 
ism may be set forth in the few following quota- 
tions : 

"I do not pretend to be a prophet ; but, though 
not a prophet, I see a very dark cloud on our hori- 
zon, and that dark cloud is coming from Rome. It 
is filled with tears of blood." — Abraham Lincoln, 

"Never before have so many of our brethren 
been in the Senate at the same time. — Jas. R. Ran- 
dall, in Catholic Mirror, 1897. 

"If the United States ever lose their liberty it 
will be through the Romish priesthood." — Geo. 
'Washington, 

"The public schools of America are sinks of 
moral pollution and nurseries of hell." — Priest 
Mather. 

"This government will pass through two wars, 
one over slavery and the other with Catholics." — 
Henry Clay. 



Lens of Prophecy. 87 

"I would as soon administer the sacrament to 
dogs as to those who send their children to public 
schools." — Priest Walker. 

"We will take America and build our institu- 
tions over the graves of Protestants." — Priest 
HecJcer. 

"We must take part in the elections, move in a 
solid mass in every State against the party pledged 
to uphold the public schools." — Cardinal Mo- 
Closkey. 

"We hate Protestantism ; we would quarter and 
hang up the crows' meat ! We would tear it with 
pinchers and fire it with hot irons ! We would fill 
it with molten lead, and sink it in hell-fire one 
hundred fathoms deep." — Priest Phelan, Editor of 
Western Watchman. 

"All Catholics should exert their power to cause 
the Constitution of the United States to be mod- 
eled to the principles of the Roman Catholic 
Church." — Pope Leo. 

Archbishop Ireland recently said: "Our work 
is to make America Catholic. ... As a religious 
system Protestantism is in hopeless dissolution in 
the United States, utterly valueless as a doctrinal 
and moral power, and no longer to be considered 
a foe with which we must count." 

The late Pope (Leo XIII.) in 1886 issued a 
Papal decree in which he stated: "The judicial 
functionaries must refuse obedience to the state 
and to the laws of the country which are in con- 
tradiction with Roman Catholic precepts." 

The historian Froude, writing on what a Cath- 
olic majority could do in America, says: "Give 



88 y. Looh Through the 

them the power and the Constitution will be gone. 
... It will control education ; it will put the press 
under surveillance." 

The great inventor, Prof. S. F. B. Morse, says 
that "Lafayette, who was a Romanist by birth and 
education, said to him, and again and again re- 
peated the warning, *If the liberties of the Amer- 
ican people are ever destroyed, they will fall by* 
the hand of the Romish clergy.' " 

The New York Herald on political Romanism 
said : "The people have an opportunity to see just 
what sort of institution the Catholic Church is 
in politics, and to understand what a farce it would 
be to pretend that free government can continue 
where it is permitted to touch its hand to politics." 

These borrowed quotations might be extended 
to an indefinite length. Sufficient have been given 
to awaken thought concerning the Roman mind 
toward us. 

"Thus he said. The fourth beast shall be a fourth king- 
dom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all the king- 
doms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it 
down, and break it in pieces" (v. 23). 

Thus Rome, that monstrous and terrible power 
from the hour of her supremacy, until the cancel- 
lation of its power, will have exercised tyranny 
over the world, ruling it with the rod of iron and 
crushing beneath it all opposing authority, during 
the history of its several heads, or succession of 
existing forms. 

"As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom shall ten 
kings arise: and another shall arise after them; and he shall 



Lens of Prophecy. 89 

be diverse from the former, and he shall put down three 
kings" (v. 24). 

This we have examined and discussed. 

"And he shall speak words against the Most High, and 
shall wear out the saints of the Most High: and he shall 
think to change the times and the law; and they shall be 
given into his hand until a time and times and half a time" 
(V. 25). 

This the Koman Bishop has already wrought. 
He is a blasphemer. He usurps the name and au- 
thority of God. He claims to occupy his seat in 
the church, is its spiritual ruler; and by right the 
world^s temporal ruler as well. 

"Change the times and the law.^' He claims 
the right to change ordinances and laws of Christ, 
and their time of observance. This he has also 
done. He has laid his hand upon every ordinance 
and removed it from its proper place as regards 
to essence^ time and manner of their observance. 
He speaks for God concerning spiritual require- 
ments and needs. He has robbed the beautiful 
ordinances of their meaning, changed the office, 
time and mode of observance. These things were 
in his hands (by his profession) until 1866-71 as 
shown in the diagram, and will be more fully illus- 
trated as we study further these pages. "Time, 
times and half a time" have for its meaning three 
and one-half years. Time standing for one year; 
the plural of time, or times, representing two 
years ; and half a time that of one-half year ; giving 
a total of three and a half years. Calculating 360 
days to the year, we would have a reach, then, of 
1,260 prophetic years, a day for a year as taught 



90 A Look Through the 

us in Ez. iv. 6 and Num. xiv. 34; a day being 
given for each year prophetically. 

"But judgement shall sit, and they shall take away his 
dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end" (v. 26). 

The judgment sat in 1517 A. D., when Luther 
began his reform in Germany against the Papal 
authority; the conflict of the spirit of liberty will 
do battle against the powers of darkness and in- 
iquity until the end, or to the extreme measure of 
Roman extension, which will be to the period of 
Gentile fulfillment. But as an institution clothed 
with power, Romanism will last until Christ ap- 
pears again, or to the end of the present dispensa- 
tion. 

"And the kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness 
of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the 
people of the saints of the Most High: his kingdom is an ever- 
lasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him" 
(V. 27). 

The church, or kingdom, of Christ is the next 
power to have universal supremacy. It must gain 
this victory by Christ's help. The true church is 
not a power of military conquest. No violence is 
in it. Christ will accomplish this in his own way. 
Most likely the people of the saints will exercise 
the arm of force. The people of the saints are the 
irreligious element of society, but in sympathy 
with the Protestant movements. Soon the ever- 
lasting kingdom will be established, and all do- 
minions shall serve and obey Him. His kingdom 
is one which shall not be destroyed. 



Lens of Prophecy, 91 

Roman ecclesiastic authority, the combination 
of the temporal with the spiritual, shall be slain 
(v. 11). This process of slaughter to Roman su- 
premacy began in 1517, the introduction of the 
Lutheran Reformation, and will continue to the 
end of Gentile supremacy as already stated. 

The seeds, or people in lineage from the first 
three universal empires, will be "prolonged for a 
season and a time" (v. 12), to be the subjects of 
Christian missionary enterprise, or evangelization, 
by the time of the end. Prolonged from the begin- 
ning of Protestant reform, in 1517 A. D., October 
31, a time is a year, and a season is one-fourth of 
a year, or ninety days. Three hundred and sixty 
days, plus ninety days, are 450 days or years. 
Counting therefore from October 31, 1517, forward 
on the calendar, we shall extend the time for Ori- 
ental people, and their evangelization, to October 
31, 1967, when they are brought into the everlast- 
ing kingdom. It will be observed their time does 
not end in 1932, with the usual Gentile supremacy. 
The Gentile supremacy ending in 1932, is for those 
whose origin begins in Romanism, and whose civil- 
izations are deducted therefrom. It certainly ap- 
pears to the writer that the book is clear upon this 
point. (For diagram, see p. 92.) 

By the twelfth verse all other beasts, or domin- 
ion of governments, were taken away, when Rome 
became a universal empire. Their lives, that is, 
the people of these governments, should extend for 
450 years. From what date? Prom the time Papal 
authority (1517) should come into judgment, and 
his life began to weaken under the Protestant re- 



92 



A Look Through the 



31 OCT -1517 




Lens of Prophecy. 93 

forms, which eventually will destroy the Papal 
body. Hence the vision is plain, and it is certain 
of fulfillment. God is mindful and just to all who 
deserve his mercies. 

It will now appear clearer why all the saints of 
the Most High who have not received the mark of 
the beast or his image, shall stand in the first resur- 
rection as was set forth in our treatise on Kevela- 
tion. What a privilege is ours to protest. To 
come clear of any recognition of Romanism, I 
refer the reader to my work on Revelation. 

The fulfillment of Roman Gentile supremacy 
as set forth above, and the time of the first resur- 
rection ( 1941 ) , will be fully proven when we have 
reached that section in Daniel's prophecies. The 
purpose of the first resurrection is twofold: to 
adduce evidence for the restoration of the Jews 
and for the saints to reign over the earth, agree- 
able to promise, and for reward to the faithful 
and true. We believe Christ's coming will be in 
1968, which we shall fully illustrate in diagram in 
our further investigations. It will be noticed, 
October 31, 1967, stands close to the year 1968, 
and for practical purposes may be considered a 
synonymous fulfillment. These two prophecies, a 
time and a season of this chapter, and the 2,300 
years of the eighth chapter, are given in round num- 
bers, but fall with perfect exactness, for the 2,300 
years is the full limit for the Jewish restoration, 
wherein divine indignation toward them is over- 
past. Then Christ comes and assumes his kingly 
authority. He said to the Jews: "Ye shall not 
see me henceforth until ye shall say, Blessed is he 



94 A Look Through the 

that Cometh in the name of the Lord." Here the 
Ancient of days shall sit. The time, from 1941 to 
1967, will be for Jewish and Oriental evangeliza- 
tion. 

While the influence of Roman ecclesiasticism 
will be canceled by 1932, yet he may literally abide 
until the appearing of our Lord, since it is pre- 
dicted "he shall be consumed by the brightness of 
his coming." Or, the brightness and holiness of 
the preparing church may be considered the com- 
ing of our Christ and Lord ; and these events may 
be the elements which destroy the Man of Sin ; holy 
warfare may destroy him from the earth. We do 
not like to rest in this view of the proposition, but 
rather to think of the personal and visible Christ 
on earth. In any event it is easy to comprehend 
the glory of the period to come will wither the 
crowned head of sin, and burn his princely palace 
with fire (spiritually applied), the consecrated 
fires of righteousness. The armies of the Lord may 
destroy it; or, Christ actually, with his effulgent 
glory, may consume him "by the brightness of his 
coming." We can not, ought not, perhaps, assume 
to say how it will be accomplished. But the Roman 
curse, however mighty and terrible, shall, in the 
mercy and goodness of God, come to an end, and 
not enter into the new dispensation. This destruc- 
tion of the Papal head is not the final judgment 
on Satan, but pertains to Satan only as he exists 
as a man, or in man as an earthly potentate or 
power, his incarnation. 



Lens of Prophecy, 95 



CHAPTER VIII. 

When Shall the Sanctuary be Cleansed? — 'K 

Vision of the Time of Indignation; or, 

From Alexander's to Christ's 

Supremacy. 

(Dan. viii.) 

Daniel is in Sushan, the palace or castle, which 
was in the Province of Elam. "This province ex- 
tended from the Persian Gulf to Assyria on the 
north, to Zagron mountains on the east, and the 
Tigris on the west." Ulai was a river near Sushan, 
or Susa, had its confluence with the Tigris, but has 
since changed its course. On the site of this favor- 
ite Persian stream, in the strong and powerful city 
of Susa, the Persian capital, Daniel had the vision 
of this chapter. In vision he is carried to the banks 
of the river Ulai. He lifted up his eyes and saw : 

"And behold, there stood before the river a ram which 
had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was 
higher than the other, and the higher came up last. I saw 
the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; 
and no beasts could stand before him, neither was there any 
that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to 
his will, and magnified himself. And as I was considering, 
behold, an he-goat came from the west over the face of the 
whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a 
notable horn between his eyes. And he came to the ram that 
had the two horns, which I saw standing before the river, and 
ran upon him in the fury of his power. And I saw him come 
close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against 
him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns; and there 



96 A Look Through the 

was no power in the ram to stand before Mm: but he cast 
him down to the ground, and trampled upon him; and there 
was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand" (vs. 
3-7). 

Interpreted, it is self-explanatory. 

"And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen 
the vision, that I sought to understand it; and, behold, there, 
stood before me as the appearance of a man. And I heard 
a man's voice between the hanks of Ulai, which called, and 
said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision. So he 
came near where I stood; and when he came, I was affrighted, 
and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O 
son of man; for the vision belongeth to the time of the end. 
Now as he was speaking with me, I fell into a deep sleep with 
my face toward the ground: but he touched me, and set me 
upright. And he said. Behold, I will make thee know what 
shall be in the latter time of the Indignation: for It belongeth 
to the appointed time of the end. The ram which thou saw- 
est that had the two horns, they are the kings of Media and 
Persia. And the rough he-goat is the king of Greece: and 
the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king" (vs. 
15-21). 

Daniel fell with his face to the ground while 
the messenger spake. He was touched by Gabriel 
and set upright. He announces the purpose of the 
vision. "Behold, I will make known what shall 
be in the latter time of the indignation" (v. 19). 
It must be understood that this is concerning the 
Jewish indignation which began with the Jewish 
Captivity, and, as we shall see, ends ^ith the final 
coming of Christ; the Jew, according to Revela- 
tion, being made ready from the first resurrection, 
or the time of sealing the Jewish mind with the 
gospel, after that the Roman Gentile period is 
fulfilled. Further on we shall see the duration 



Lens of Prophecy. 97 

of this period, calculating it from the first events 
of this vision, not from the time of their captivity, 
not from the date of the vision either, but from the 
first event of the vision, which we will now let 
Gabriel designate for us in his interpretation. 

"The ram which thon sawest that had the two horns, they 
are the kings of Media and Persia, and the rough he-goat is the 
king of Greece : and the great horn that is between his eyes is the 
first king" (vs. 20, 21). 

This is easy of comprehension and refers to 
the Medo-Persian overthrow by Alexander the 
Great. Which event was consummated in 331 
B. 0. But the Jews were restored to Jerusa- 
lem by this time, and capitulated with Alexander 
in 332 B. C. while advancing on his southern cam- 
paign. Alexander obtained a peace victory over 
Jerusalem, was shown the prophecies concerning 
himself from the Book of Daniel, was taken into 
the temple and allowed to do priestly service. 
From this event, therefore, we fix the beginning 
date of this prophecy. We here commence to cal- 
culate the period of indignation and subordination, 
"for it belongeth to the appointed time of the end" 
(v. 20). 

"And the he-goat magnified himself exceedingly: and 
when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and instead 
of it there came up four notable horns toward the four winds 
of heaven" (v. 8). 

INTERPRETATION . 

"And as for that which was broken, in the place whereof 
four stood up, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the na- 
tion, but not with his power" (v. 22). 



98 a. Looh Through the 

Alexander deified himself (he-goat magnified 
himself exceedingly) when he crossed into Africa 
and founded the city of Alexandria. When he had 
conquered the world, his power or kingdom was 
broken, in his death, and divided among four gen- 
erals, as fully shown in a previous chapter. They 
had not the strength of Alexander. 

"And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which 
waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, 
and toward the glorious land. And it waxed great, even to 
the host of heaven; and some of the host and of the stars 
it cast down to the ground, and trampled upon them. Yea, 
it magnified itself, even to the prince of the host; and it took 
away from him the continual turnt offering, and the place of 
his sanctuary was cast down" (vs. 9-12). 

INTEBPRETATION . 

"And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the trans- 
gressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, 
and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his 
power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; and he 
shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper and do Ms pleas- 
ure: and he shall destroy the mighty ones and the holy peo- 
ple" (vs. 23-25). 

This has allusion to the ascendency of the Ro- 
man power to supremacy. It "waxed great," and 
extended its power and territory. "Glorious land'' 
of the quotation has reference to Palestine. Roman 
dominion extended into Egypt and into the valley 
of the Euphrates. It grew to be the supreme rul- 
ing power of the world. It cast down principali- 
ties and trampled upon them. It did its pleasure, 
prospered and destroyed wonderfully (v. 24). It 
took away the continual burnt offering (v. 11) 
from the temple service, when Titus destroyed the 



Lens of Prophecy, 99 

temple in 70 A. D. His power was mighty, "but 
not by its own power.'' Satan ruled through 
Eome; that is, ecclesiastic Rome. He ruled also 
through her cruel emperors. Destroyed the mighty 
ones and holy people (v. 24). 

"And the host was given over to it together with the 
continual lurnt offering through transgression; and it cast 
down truth to the ground, and it did its pleasure and pros- 
pered" (v. 12). 

"And through his policy he shall cause craft to prosper 
in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and 
in their security shall he destroy many: he shall also stand 
up against the prince of princes; but he shall be broken with- 
out hand" (v. 25). 

This was wrought through the Papal head of 
Rome. He destroyed many, who were resting in 
the security of their faith and religious observ- 
ances. 

He stands against the Prince of Peace, tem- 
poral Rome against Christ. His history has been 
one of conquest against the rights and liberties of 
the people of God. In Armageddon's battle he 
shall once more stand against the Prince of Peace. 
"But he shall be broken without hand;" which 
would indicate the Christ will do battle against 
the antichrist, when he shall break and utterly 
consume him. 

INTERPEETATION . 

"Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one 
said unto that certain one which spake. How long shall be 
the vision concerning the continual lyurnt offering, and the 
transgression that maketh desolate, to give both the sanctuary 
and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me. 



100 A Look Through the 

Unto two thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings; 
then shall the sanctuary be cleansed" (vs. 13, 14). 

"And the vision of the evenings and mornings which hath 
been told is true: but shut thou up the vision; for it belongeth 
to many days to come" (v. 26). 

Time marked on diagram (see next page) 
rounds out the long period of Jewish indignation, 
during which they are trodden under foot, the fires 
of the burnt offering are extinguished in 70 A. D. 
and darkness falls upon the Jew in part until the 
times of the Gentiles be come in. Here is the ful- 
fillment, showing that God will not utterly cast 
off his people. He will come as their Messiah, but 
they can not see him until they recognize him as 
their Lord. Events will occur that will prepare 
their hearts for their King. 



Lens of Prophecy. 



101 



333BC- 



^3 AD' 



I66<5 




102 A Look Through the 



CHAPTER IX. 

Time Determined for the Bringing in of Ever- 
lasting Righteousness; or, The First 
Coming of Christ Foretold 
in Years. 

(Dan. ix.) 

In 538 B. C, Darius the Mede began to reign 
in the province of Chaldea. This is the time of 
Daniel^s concern for Israel's return to Jerusalem, 
according to the word of the Lord, by the mouth of 
Jeremiah. The seventy years being nearly ful- 
filled, and atonement for Israel's national offense 
being made, Daniel set his "face unto the Lord 
God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fast- 
ing, and sackcloth, and ashes" (v. 3). 

"And I prayed unto tlie Lord my God, and made confes- 
sion, and said, O Lord, tlie great and dreadful God, which 
keepeth covenant and mercy mth them that love him and 
keep his commandments; we have sinned, and have dealt 
perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even 
turning aside from thy precepts and from thy judgements: 
neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, 
which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our 
fathers, and to all the people of the land. O Lord, righteous- 
ness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of face, as 
at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of 
Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are 
far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven 
them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed 



Lens of Prophecy. 103 

against thee. O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to 
pur kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have 
Binned against thee. To the Lord our God belong mercies and 
forgiveness; for we have rebelled against him; neither have 
we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his laws, 
which he set before us by his servants the prophets. Yea, all 
Israel have transgressed thy law, even turning aside, that they 
should not obey thy voice: therefore hath the curse been 
poured out upon us, and the oath that is written in the law 
of Moses the servant of God; for we have sinned against him. 
And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, 
and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a 
great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done 
as hath been done upon Jerusalem. As it is written in the 
law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet have we not 
intreated the favor of the Lord our God, that we should turn 
from our iniquities, and have discernment in thy truth. There- 
fore hath the Lord watched over the evil, and brought it upon 
us: for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which 
he doeth, and we have not obeyed his voice. And now, O Lord 
our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land 
of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten the renown, 
as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly. O 
Lord, according to all thy righteousness, let thine anger and 
thy fury, I pray thee, be turned away from thy city Jerusa- 
lem, the holy mounta-in: because for our sins, and for the 
iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are be- 
come a reproach to all that are round about us. Now there- 
fore, O our God, hearken unto the prayer of thy servant, and 
to his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy 
sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake. O my God, 
incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our 
desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we 
do not present our supplications before thee for our right- 
eousness, but for thy great mercies. O Lord, hear; O Lord, 
forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not; for thine own 
sake, O my God, because thy city and thy people are called 
by thy name" (vs. 4-19). 



104 A Look Through the 

This is a fervent prayer. One of historical al- 
lusion. One of confession, of acknowledgment of 
sin and confusion and shame and irreverence and 
disobedience and disloyalty and perverseness and 
unrepentance. One of recognition of justice and 
judgment and righteousness in One who keepeth 
covenant and mercies. Daniel would bear Israel's 
guilt. He would repent in sackcloth and ashes for 
Israel, and appeal unto the great and holy God 
for mercies and remembrance, while in their deso- 
lations they are "a reproach to all that are round 
about.'' 

For His own sake and for Jerusalem's, he 
pleads deliverance, and "because the city and thy 
people are called by thy name." A gracious 
reason ! 

While thus engaged in prayer for himself, and 
for his people, and for the holy mountain of God 
(v. 20), Gabriel, as seen in the former vision, 
touched him "about the time of the evening obla- 
tion" (v. 21). Suggestive of a long season of 
prayer before God, humbled and grief-stricken. 

"And he instructed me, and talked with me, and said, 
O Daniel, I am now come forth to make thee skillful of un- 
derstanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the 
commandment went forth, and I am come to tell thee; for 
thou art greatly beloved: therefore consider the matter, and 
understand the vision" (vs. 22, 23). 

"Seventy weeks are decreed upon thy people and upon thy 
holy city, to finish transgression, and to make an end of sins, 
and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in ever- 
lasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and 
to anoint the most holy. Know therefore and discern, that 
from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to 



Lens of Prophecy. 



105 



^57 E>.C 



-^OSE>.C 



2e AD- 
33 AD- 



IW' 7Yas. 




106 A Look Through the 

build Jerusalem unto the anointed one, the prince, shall he 
seven weeks: and threescore and two weeks, it shall be built 
again, with street and moat, even in troublous times" (vs. 
24, 35). 

By the diagram (page 105) it yAU be seen we 
count from 457 B. C, as the starting-point. Mar- 
ginal chronology of our common Bibles, under 
Ezra, fourth and eighth chapters, gives us 
the date referred to under this prophecy; "that 
from the going forth of the commandment to re- 
store and to build Jerusalem unto the anointed 
one," extends from the time of the issuance of this 
command to our anointed Prince. The prophecy 
was made eighty-one years before the time of the 
beginning of its fulfillment, or eighty-one years 
before the command was given, and five hundred 
and seventy-one years before the consummation of 
it. The accuracy of these divinely inspired mes- 
sages to man should establish faith in the mind of 
any one capable of examining evidence. They are 
the proof of the inspiration of the Scriptures and 
the divinity of Christ. For "the testimony of Jesus 
is the spirit of prophecy." — John, When evidence 
is examined and found to be true, the rational mind 
must believe, or have faith. Faith is a psycholog- 
ical act, and not an entity. It comes upon the 
review or examination of evidence, and not as a 
gift, or a special impact from Deity. "Faith cometh 
by hearing." — Paul. The teaching of modern Baby- 
lon is that faith cometh by prayer and supplica- 
tion. Hence, since "without faith it is impossible 
to please God," and if God does not allow one the 
possession of it, see what a monster it makes of 



Lens of Prophecy, 107 

Deity. One great object of our prophetic research 
is to make plain the evidence, that men may be- 
lieve. Another, the measure of gratification such 
investigations bring, and yet another, to know the 
things God has given for us to understand, for the 
time is at hand. 

But let us analyze these predictions. 

Beginning, at the given date 457, we measure 
seventy weeks (v. 24), which, reduced to days, are 
490 days, and a day for a prophetic year would give 
us 490 years, bringing us dowTi to 33 A. D., "for 
to finish transgression, and to make an end of sins, 
and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to 
bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up 
vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy." 
Which comprehends the execution and publication 
of the gospel of Christ, the pardon of sins through 
the blood of Immanuel, the giving of Christ as the 
everlasting covenant to the race of man. All vis- 
ions and prophecies and inspiration is sealed up 
in this period, or generation. He and his immediate 
disciples whom he inspired with messages of light 
and life were the last to ever bring heavenly mes- 
sages to man in the succeeding dispensation. Let 
this truth be published wide. The modern im- 
postors, professing divine revelation, can not stand 
in the light of this text. It will dispel so much 
ignorance, superstition and imposition on the part 
of those who wish to follow Christ, to understand 
that these modern pretenders at inspiration are 
impostors and frauds, imposing upon the credulity 
of anxious believers. This truth, once known, will 
save great injury and loss to the flock of our Re- 



108 A Look Through the 

deemer. With this truth burned on the souls of 
men, the modern attempts at a revealed message 
from heaven will have little opportunity to delude 
and destroy the purity of the Christian faith and 
practice. They are of, and help to form, the spirit 
of the antichrist. 

"Know therefore and discern, that from the going forth 
of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto 
the anointed one, the prince, shall be seven weeks; and three- 
score and two weeks, it shall be built again. . . . And 
after threescore and two weeks shall the anointed one be cut 
off, and shall have nothing. . . . And he shall confirm 
the covenant with many for one week" (vs. 25-27). 

Here we have the same extension of time, ag- 
gregating seventy weeks, but in broken periods, 
each reach of period covering important events. 
Seven weeks, or forty-nine years, extend from 457 
B. C. to 408 B. C. The walls, streets and moats 
were built in this limit, the people being troubled, 
vexed and harassed by marauding neighbors. 
"Even in troublous times." 

Threescore and two weeks, or 434 years, reach 
down to 26 A. D., when Christ was thirty years of 
age. The first century, beginning about four years 
after the birth of Christ, would establish the event 
at 26 A. D. 

"And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one 
week" (v. 27). 

This time extends from 26 A. D. to 33 A. D. 

The firm or everlasting covenant of the Father with 
man, through his only Son, our Saviour, was 
wrought within this painful week. Oh, wonderful, 
wonderful redemption! Jesus icas slain. He icas 



Lens of Prophecy. 109 

'buried. He rose again. The gospel in nine words. 
It was "after the threescore and two weeks," Christ 
(the anointed one) was cut off. The anointed one 
(our King) "had nothing'' then of this world. 
Jerusalem rejected her King. 

"In that very hour there came certain Pharisees, saying 
to him. Get thee out, and go hence: for Herod would fain 
kill thee. And he said unto them, Go and say to that fox, 
Behold, I cast out devils and perform cures to-day and to- 
morrow, and the third day I am perfected. Howbeit I must 
go on my way to-day and to-morrow and the day following: 
for it can not be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem. O 
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killeth the prophets, and ston- 
eth them that are sent unto her! how often would I have 
gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her 
own brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your 
house is left unto you desolate: and I say unto you. Ye shall 
not see me, until ye shall say. Blessed is he that cometh in 
the name of the Lord" (Luke xiii. 31-36). 

"And he took again the twelve, and began to tell them 
the things that were to happen unto him, saying, Behold, we 
go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered 
unto the chief priests and the scribes; and they shall con- 
demn him to death, and shall deliver him unto the Gentiles: 
and they shall mock him, and shall spit upon him, and shall 
scourge him, and shall kill him; and after three days he shall 
rise again" (Mark x. 32-34) 

"But when Silas and Timothy came down from Mace- 
donia, Paul was constrained by the word, testifying to the 
Jews that Jesus was the Christ. And when they opposed 
themselves, and blasphemed, he shook out his raiment, and 
^said unto them. Your blood be upon your own heads; I am 
clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles" (Luke 
xviii. 5, 6). 

They, the Gentiles (now the people of the prince 
— V. 26), "shall come and destroy the city and 
the sanctuary." 



110 A Look Through the 

"But when ye see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then 
know that her desolation is at hand. Then let them that are 
in Judaea flee unto the mountains; and let them that are in 
the midst of her depart out; and let not them that are in the 
country enter therein. For these are days of vengeance, that 
all things which are written may be fulfilled. Woe unto them 
that are with child and to them that give suck in those days! 
for there shall be great distress upon the land, and wrath unto 
this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, 
and shall be led captive into all the nations: and Jerusalem 
shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the 
Gentiles shall be fulfilled. And there shall be signs in sun 
and moon and stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, 
in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the billows; men 
fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which are 
coming on the world: for the powers of the heavens shall be 
shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in 
a cloud with" power and great glory. But when these things 
begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads; be- 
cause your redemption draweth nigh" {Jesus — Luke xxi. 20- 
28). 

Titus, the Roman general, did so 70 A. D. And 
with the end of Jerusalem shall be war (v. 26) ; 
desolations are determined. And it was so, even 
to its final and utter desolation, when the false 
Messiah, Bar-Coehba, was defeated about 132 A. D. 
These historic incidents should be read. When we 
see the awful judgment of God upon Jerusalem, 
we may understand something of the dreadful ca- 
lamity to fall on the temple of man for rejecting 
the Son of God. 

"For the half of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and 
oblation to cease" (v. 27). 

In the midst of the week he fulfilled his mission 
to earth. Jewish service was then cut off authori- 



Lens of Prophecy. Ill 

tatively, and the spiritual service of the new dis- 
pensation instituted. The new code, its ordinances 
and observances were in full effect with the true 
followers of Christ. The last half of the week was 
given to the publication of the gospel about Jeru- 
salem and Judaea. 

"They therefore, when they were come togetlier, asked 
him, saying, Lord, dost thou at this time restore the kingdom 
to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know 
times or seasons, which the Father hath set within his own 
authority. But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Ghost 
is come upon you: and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jeru- 
salem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost 
part of the earth. — Jesus. 

"Upon the wing of abominations shall come one that 
maketh desolate" (v. 27). 

Here the allusion to him who should make deso- 
late th.e souls of men. The Papal head of Rome. 
For how long? "Even unto the consummation'^ 
(v. 27). Consummation of what? The Jewish in- 
dignation. The end of Gentile supremacy. At 
what time? This was shown elsewhere. That has 
been "determined." It was fixed in prophecy. 
Then "shall wrath be poured out upon the deso- 
lator." As so the temporal, so also spiritual or 
ecclesiastic Rome. 

"Joy to the world, the Lord has come. 

Let earth receive her King; 
Let every heart prepare him room. 
And heaven and nature sing!" 



112 A Look Through the 



CHAPTER X. 

Historic Recitations; or, The Vision of 
History. 

(Dan. X., xi.) 

Belteshazzar (Daniel) received a reyelation in 
the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia ; he under- 
stood the revelation, and had understanding of the 
vision (v. 1). "The thing was true, even a great 
warfare." At that time Daniel had been mourning 
for three weeks. He was practicing self-denial; 
was eating no "pleasant bread, neither came flesh 
nor wine into my mouth, neither did I anoint my- 
self at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled" 
(v. 3) . On the 24th day of the first month, 

"As I was by ttie side of the great river, which is Hid- 
dekel, I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a man 
clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with pure gold of 
Uphaz: his body also was like the beryl, and his face as the 
appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his 
arms and his feet like in color to burnished brass, and the 
voice of his words like the voice of a multitude" (vs. 5, 6). 

Daniel is by the river Tigris. His vision of the 
Christ is very similar to the vision John had of 
him in Rev. i. 13-15. 

"And I turned to see the voice which spake with me. And 
having turned I saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the 
midst of the candlesticks one like unto a son of man, clothed 
with a garment down to the foot, and girt about at the breasts 
with a golden girdle. And his head and his hair were white 
as white wool, white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame 
of fire; and his feet like unto burnished brass, as if it had 



Lens of Prophecy. 113 

been refined in a furnace; and his voice as the voice of many- 
waters." 

Thus, alone, he saw "this great vision, and there 
remained no strength in me: for my comeliness 
was turned in me into corruption, and I retained 
no strength'' (v. 8). Daniel, greatly loved of God 
for his purity, loyalty and devotion, sank into mor- 
tification at the beautiful vision of Jesus. Such 
exalted glory, refined beauty and wonderful excel- 
lence as the revealed and glorified Christ, withers 
the carnal mind of man. And if true of pious and 
religious Daniel, how with the most of us when 
we come to stand in His presence, possibly for 
judgment? and how with the irreverent and unre- 
penting, who may then wish for the mercies and 
goodness of God? How fitted are they to enter into 
His excellent glory, should their desires and expec- 
tations be gratified? It is a terrible thing to have 
to confront the Judge of all the earth. Yet "every 
eye shall see him, and they also that pierced him." 
Oh that we may not have to flee from the beauty 
of his pure presence, self-condemned, into eternal 
separation from Him! 

"Yet heard I the voice of his words: and when I heard 
the voice of his words, then was I fallen into a deep sleep 
on my face, with my face toward the ground. And, behold, 
a hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon 
the palms of my hands. And he said unto me, O Daniel, thou 
man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak 
unto thee, and stand upright; for unto thee am I now sent: 
and when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. 
Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel; for from the first 
day thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to humble 
thyself before thy God, thy words were heard; and I am come 



114 A Look Through the 

for thy words' sake. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia 
withstood me one and twenty days; but, lo, Michael, one of 
the chref princes, came to help me: and I remained there with 
the kings of Persia" (vs. 9-13). 

We are no better, holier, happier, nor more fa- 
vored than we are, because we lack persistence and 
purpose in prayer, and humiliation before God. 
Daniel is a great example to the disciple, in prayer. 
Let us stay at the throne of grace until the great 
needs of our lives, and the cause we love, are sup- 
plied. Importune and plead with God until the 
soul is transformed and made beautiful in his like- 
ness. Till faith sees the morning star of hope, the 
Sun of righteousness, the light of eternal beauties 
shine upon the steadfast and expectant gaze. Cease 
not to pray. "Pray always.'' "Watch and pray." 

For twenty-one days, or the past three weeks, 
Daniel continued his supplications. God inclined 
to reward him openly. The messenger of the vis- 
ion came for "his words' sake." He was detained 
on account of "the prince of the kingdom of Per- 
sia" (v. 13). God was wonderfully potent in 
Persian affairs at the time. He had marshaled his 
armies to the overthrow of Babylon. It is not for 
us to assume what was the special impediment 
to a speedy recognition of Daniel, on the part of 
Persia. The fact is stated and it is sufficient. 

But 

"Now I am come to make thee understand what shall 
befall thy people in the latter days; for the vision is yet for 
many days" (v. 14). 

Though Persian affairs needed assistance, he 
could now come, "for, lo, Michael, one of the chief 



Lens of Prophecy, 115 

princes, came to help me: and I was not needed 
there with the kings of Persia [margin]'' (v. 13). 
Here we have the key to the situation. Daniel's 
anxiety and deep concern were for the future of his 
people, the perpetuity of his race; and, of course, 
the secondary thought of the revealed IMessiah 
through them. They are now desolated, in cap- 
tivity, without organization, with religious and 
political freedom all gone; and without divine de- 
liverance the fruition of every cherished hope is 
blighted, and every promise withered, and all, all 
this because of the sins of Israel, nence the con- 
cern of Daniel, and hence the revelation t® be 
given wherein he may ^*under stand what shall be- 
fall thy people in the latter days." 

"And when he had spoken unto me according to these 
v/ords, I set my face toward the ground, and was dumb. And, 
behold, one like the similitude of the sons of men touched 
my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spake and said unto 
him that stood before me, O my lord, by reason of the vision 
my sorrows are turned upon me, and I retain no strength. 
For how can the servant of this my lord talk with this my 
lord? for as for me, straightway there remained no strength 
in me, neither was there breath left in me. Then there 
touched me again one like the appearance of a man, and he 
strengthened me" (vs. 15-18). 

Daniel wilted and lost his strength at the an- 
nouncement of the message. His anxiety and earn- 
estness bore him up. His humiliation in fasting 
had already exhausted the flesh. Relaxation fol- 
lowed relief of mind. It is always so. The over- 
shadowing and glorious visage, too, caused the 
shrinking of the soul of Daniel back upon itself. 
The loftiest and most cultured minds grow small 



116 A Look Through the 

and self-belittled when standing before the mighty 
realm of knowledge they have not yet explored. 
Virtue and strength must be imparted to us as an 
electric charge from the dynamo of the divine life. 

"And he said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be 
unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he spake unto 
me, I was strengthened, and said. Let my lord speak; for 
thou hast strengthened me. Then said he, Knowest thou 
wherefore I am come unto thee? and now will I return to 
fight with the prince of Persia: and when I go forth, lo, the 
prince of Greece shall come. But I will tell thee that which 
is inscribed in the writing of truth: and there is none that 
holdeth with me against these, but Michael your prince. And 
as for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up 
to confirm and strengthen him" (vs. 19-21 and ch. xi. 1). 

This messenger will assist the Persian prince 
now. But when the arm of divine help is departed 
from Persia, the prince of Greece will come. 

"And now will I shew thee the truth. Behold, there shall 
stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be 
far richer than they all : and when he is waxed strong through 
his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece" 
(ch. xi. 2). 

The three kings to stand up in Persia were 
Ahasuerus, Smerdis and Hystaspes. The fourth 
was Xerxes. Persia came against Greece with 
three expeditions. The first, 493 B. C. The second, 
490 B. C. And a third, 480 B. C, under Xerxes. 
These were unsuccessful sallies for the overthrow 
of Greece, though desperate and sanguinary. The 
Persian arms were repulsed, and their fleets de- 
stroyed. "The effect of Marathon (490 B. C), 
Thermopylae (480 B. C), Salamis (480 B. C), 
Plat^a (479 B. C), and Mycale (479 B. C.) were 



Lens of Prophecy. 117 

to give the death-blow to Persian rule in Europe. 
Grecian valor had saved a continent from eastern 
slavery and barbarism. More than that, the Per- 
sian wars gave rise to the real Hellenic civiliza- 
tion, and Marathon and Salamis may be looked 
upon as the birthplaces of Grecian glory." — 
Barnes, These predictions in the visions of Daniel 
antedated the events by some fifty or sixty years. 

"And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with 
great dominion, and do according to his will" (v. 3). 

This king was Alexander the Great. Alexander 
was the son of Philip of Macedon. "Greece was 
prostrate at Philip's feet. In a congress of all 
the states except Sparta, he was appointed to lead 
their united forces against Persia. But while pre- 
paring to start he was assassinated at his daugh- 
ter's marriage feast. Alexander succeeded to his 
throne and ambitious projects. Though only 
twenty years of age, he was more than his father's 
equal in statesmanship and military skill. . . . He 
was at once made captain-general of the Grecian 
forces to invade Persia, and soon after he set out 
upon that perilous expedition from which he never 
returned. In 334 B. C., Alexander crossed the 
Hellespont. He was the first to leap on the Asiatic 
shore. He defeated the Persians at the river of 
Granicus, and at Issus. He then besieged Tyre 
and carried the place by a desperate assault. Then 
into Egypt. Here he founded the famous city of 
Alexandria. Marched east and routed the Persian 
host, a million strong, on the field of Arbela. En- 
tered Babylon in triumph." — Barnes. He did ex- 



118 A Look Through the 

ploits in the "mysterious East, reached the river 
Hyphasis, built vessels and descended the Indus. 
Eeturned to Babylon ten years after he had crossed 
the Hellespont." — Barnes. 

Alexander destroyed the Persian Empire; he 
conquered Asia, Egypt and Syria. Though con- 
queror he was, he was at last conquered by intem- 
perance, and died in Babylon 323 B. C, as a result 
of beastly inebriety. Though a young man, in the 
meridian of his glory, in the noon of life, with the 
world's nations at his feet, having achieved lasting 
and enduring fame, having worked for the world 
lasting benefits as an instrument in the hand of 
Deity, yet at last he became a broken reed in the 
gratification of a carnal appetite, through the se- 
ductive infiuence of strong drink. 

"And when lie shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, 
and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; but 
not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion wherewith 
he ruled; for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others 
beside these" (v. 4). 

Alexander died without issue. He had no heir 
to possess the heritage of the world. Accordingly, 
"Alexander's principal generals divided his empire 
among themselves. A mortal struggle of twenty- 
two years followed, during which these officers, re- 
leased from the strong hand of their master, 
^fought, quarreled, grasped and wrangled like loos- 
ened tigers in an amphitheater.' The greed and 
jealousy of the generals, or kings, as they were 
-called, were equaled only by the treachery of their 
men. Finally, by the decisive battle of Ipsus (301 
B. C), the conflict was ended, and the following 



Lens of Prophecy. 119 

distribution of the territory made: Ptolemy re- 
ceived Egypt, and conquered all of Palestine, Phoe- 
nicia and Cyprus. Lysimachus received Thrace 
and nearly all of Asia Minor. Seleucus received 
Syria and the East, and afterward conquered Asia 
Minor, Lysimachus being slain. Cassander re- 
ceived Macedon and Greece." — Barnes. Thus 
Alexander's kingdom was plucked up. 

"And the king of the south shall be strong, and one of 
his princes; and he shall be strong above him, and have 
dominion; his dominion shall be a great dominion. And at 
the end of years they shall join themselves together; and 
the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king 
of the north to make an agreement; but she shall not retain 
the strength of her arm; neither shall he stand, nor his arm; 
but she shall be given up, and they that brought her, and he 
that begat her, and he that strengthened her in those times" 
(vs. 5, 6). 

That is, the king of Egypt, which lay south of 
Syria. This king was Ptolemy Lagus, whose do- 
minion was over Libya, Cyrene and Cyprus. *'One 
of his princes" — that is, Alexander's — Seleucus Ni- 
cator, the Syrian king. "Strong above him," or 
having annexed Macedon and Thrace to the Syrian 
crown, he became master of three parts out of the 
four of Alexander's empire. "And at the end of 
years they shall join themselves together." That 
is, after the years of their hostilities, Ptolemy 
Philadelphus, the second king of Egypt, and An- 
tiochus II., or Theos III., king of Syria, "ended the 
war 252 B. C, by a treaty, in accordance with 
which he married Bernice, a daughter of Ptolemy, 
and repudiated his wife Laodice, with her two 



120 'A Look Through the 

sons." — Encyc, But Antiochus, after the death of 
Ptolemy, brought back his wife Laodice, who poi- 
soned him (246 B. C.)? who also poisoned her 
(Bernice) and they that brought her, meaning the 
Egyptian w^omen, who were slain with her. "He 
that begat her," or "he whom she had brought 
forth. Her son was also murdered." "He that 
strengthened her." "Her father died within a few 
years." — Encyc, 

"But out of a shoot from her roots shall one stand up 
in his place, which shall come unto the army, and shall enter 
into the fortress of the king of the north, and shall deal 
against them, and shall prevail: and also their gods, with 
their molten images, and with their goodly vessels of silver 
and of gold, shall he carry captive into Egypt; and he shall 
refrain some years from the king of the north" (vs. 7-9). 

The branch of her roots was Ptolemy Energetes 
(247-222 B. C. ) . "So did this king invade the terri- 
tories of Seleucus Callinicers and reigned in Syria. 
He took Syria and Cilicia and the upper part be- 
yond Euphrates and almost all Asia." "There 
were 2,500 of their gods carried away. He was a 
brilliant warrior; made a victorious campaign 
from the Nile to the Indus, and brought back to 
Memphis the old Egyptian gods which Cambyses 
had carried to Babylon, whence he received the 
surname of Energetes and the title of Benefactor." 
— Encyc. 

"And he shall come into the realm of the king of the south, 
but he shall return into his own land. And his sons shall war, 
and shall assemble a multitude of great forces, which shall 
come on, and overflow, and pass through: and they shall 
return and war, even to his fortress" (v. 10). 



Lens of Prophecy. 121 

The sons of Seleucus Callinicers. They were 
Seleucus Carannus and Antiochus the Great. The 
first "was poisoned by one of his generals, but the 
other retook Selenica and recovered Syria." — 
Encyc. 

"And the king of the south shall be moved with choler, 
and shall come forth and fight with him, even with the king 
of the north: and he shall set forth a great multitude, and 
the multitude shall be given into his hand" (v. 11). 

Antiochus II. (Theos), the northern king (217 
B. C), came against Ptolemy Philopater of the 
south. Antiochus "set forth a great multitude — 
6,200 foot, 600 horse, 102 elephants. All these were 
given into Ptolemy's hand.'' — Encyc, 

"And the multitude shall be lifted up, and his heart shall 
be exalted: and he shall cast down tens of thousands, but 
he shall not prevail" (v. 12). 

Antiochus III., the king of the north, while 
on his way to Egypt, being refused of the Jews an 
access to the Holy of Holies, "slew 40,000 to 50,- 
000, thus weakening his own strength." — Encyc. 

"And the king of the north shall return, and shall set 
forth a multitude greater than the former; and he shall come 
on at the end of the times, even of years, with a great army 
and with much substance" (v. 13). 

Ptolemy Antipater died 205 B. C, and after 
Antiochus III., or the Great, after conducting a 
"victorious expedition across the mountains of 
Hindu-Kush into India, and having formed an al- 
liance with several Indian princes, returned to 
Antioch, after a seven years' absence. He took 
Palestine, from the King of Egypt, 198 B. C. 



122 A Look Through the 

(Ptolemy Epiphanes, a boy of seven years of age)." 
— Encyc. 

"And in those times there shall many stand up against the 
king of the south: also the children of the violent among thy 
people shall lift themselves up to establish the vision; but they 
shall fall" (v. 14). 

Many of the Egyptian provinces rebelled, the op- 
portunity being favorable from the defeat the boy 
king suffered at the hand of Antiochus the Great. 
"Ptolemy Epiphanes and Ptolemy Philomater 
(181-146 B. C.) began the degeneration of the dy- 
nasty, with the influence of the Romans — the two 
causes which soon brought about the downfall of 
the Egyptian Empire. Ptolemy IV. (Philomater) 
sent large supplies of corn to Rome during the 
second Punic War, and as a reward for his good 
offices the Romans interfered in the war between 
Antiochus of Syria and Ptolemy V. (Epiphanes) 
in favor of the latter. Antioch, too, had invaded 
Thrace 196 B. C, which resulted in a hazardous re- 
pulse to Antioch. Hence the sympathy which fol- 
lowed for Egypt on the part of Rome.'' — Encyc. 

"Under Ptolemy VI. the Roman commissioners 
played the part of mediators between him and his 
brother, Energetes II." — Encyc. Hence "they shall 
fall" (v. 14). That is, the insurrectionary elements 
at home, as well as the king of Syria. 

"So the king of the north shall come, and cast up a mount, 
and take a well fenced city: and the arms of the south shall 
not withstand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there 
be any strength to withstand" (v. 15). 



Lens of Prophecy, 123 

Antiochus IV. (Epiphanes) was a son of An- 
tiochus the Great. He passed about twelve years 
in Rome, whither he was sent as hostage in 188 
B. C. He became king on the death of his brother, 
Seleucus Philomater, in 176 B. C. He invaded 
Egypt in 170 and captured the king, Ptolemy Phi- 
lomater, but was constrained by the Roman Senate 
to retire from that country in 168 B. C. About 
this date ( "cast up a mount, and take a well fenced 
city'' — V. 15) he plundered the temple at Jerusalem 
and persecuted the Jews, profaned the temple by 
offering unclean animals and desecrated the tem- 
ple service. ( "The arms of the south shall not with- 
stand, neither his chosen people, neither shall 
there be any strength to withstand" — ^v. 15. ) Judas 
Maccabseus (168 B. C.) rose in arms and defeated 
the Syrian armies in several battles. 

"But he that cometh against him [that is, Judas Macca- 
bseus] shall do according to his own will, and none shall 
stand before him: and he shall stand [Judas Maccabaeus] in 
the glorious land [Juda&a], and in his hand shall be destruc- 
tion" (v. 16). 

Antiochus the Great had conquered Palestine, 
which by the division of Alexander's empire had 
fallen to the Ptolemies of Egypt; but under An- 
tiochus Epiphanes the Jews revolted, and after a 
contest of twenty years they made themselves inde- 
pendent ( B. C. 161, about ) . After a series of san- 
guinary wars Judaea was freed from the oppressive 
yoke of the Seleucidse and became an independent 
kingdom under the Maccabees, or Asmopsean dy- 
nasty, 135 B. C.—Ill Hist, World, 



124 A Look Through the 

"And he shall set his face to come V7ith the strength of his 
whole kingdom, and upright ones with him; and he shall do 
his pleasure : and he shall give him the daughter of women, to 
corrupt her; but she shall not stand, neither be for him" 
(V. 17). 

Turning from the Jews, or Jewish history, it 
must not be forgotten our subject in hand is the 
king of the north, or Syria, as against that of the 
south, or Egypt, we have under general considera- 
tion. In explanation of this seventeenth verse we 
quote from III. Hist. World. 

"Antiochus Sidetes then led an expedition 
against the Parthians for the purpose of releasing 
his brother from captivity. He gained some suc- 
cess at first, but was finally defeated with the loss 
of his army, and slain, after a reign of nine years 
(128 B. C). Just before the death of Antiochus 
Sidetes, the Parthian king had liberated Demetrius 
Nicator and sent him to Antioch to claim his crown 
for the purpose of forcing Antiochus to retire from 
Parthia to preserve his kingdom. Demetrius Nica- 
tor resumed his authority, and the death of his 
brother soon afterward left him without a rival for 
a short time. Ptolemy Physcon, king of Egypt, 
soon raised up a pretender named Zabinas, for the 
purpose of revenging himself upon Demetrius for 
the support which he had given the Egyptian 
queen Cleopatra. Zabinas, who claimed to be a 
son of Alexander Balas, defeated Demetrius near 
Damascus. Thereupon Demetrius fled to his for- 
mer wife, Cleopatra, at Ptolemais, but she refused 
to receive him. He then attempted to enter Tyre, 
but was Captured and put to death'^ ( 126 B. C. ) . 



Lens of Prophecy. 125 

"Daughter of women" we think has reference 
to Cleopatra, the granddaughter of Antiochus the 
Great of Syria, and who was the daughter of Cleo- 
patra, the wife of Ptolemy Epiphanes. This Cleo- 
patra, the daughter of women, was made queen by 
the Alexandrians. 

"After this shall he turn his face unto the isles, and shall 
take many; but a prince shall cause the reproach offered by 
him to cease; yea, moreover, he shall cause his reproach to 
return upon him. Then he shall turn his face toward the 
fortresses of his own land: but he shall stumble and fall, and 
shall not be found. Then shall stand up in his place one that 
shall cause an exactor to pass through the glory of the 
kingdom: but within few days he shall be destroyed, neither 
in anger, nor in battle" (vs. 18-20). 

"In B. 0. 114, the king's half-brother, Antiochus 
X., Cyzicenus, the son of Cleopatra by her third 
husband, Antiochus Sidetes, headed a rebellion 
against the king, thus involving the kingdom in a 
bloody war of three years, and finally compelling 
Antiochus Grypus to divide the kingdom with her. 
But the war was renewed in B.,0. 105, and continued 
until B. 0. 96, bringing dreadful loss and misery 
upon the kingdom, without any decisive gain to 
either party. During this period Syria was terribly 
ravaged by the Arabs on the east, and by the Egyp- 
tians on the south. The province of Oilicia and the 
cities of Tyre, Sidon and Selucia revolted and 
achieved their independence." — III. Hist. World. 

Seleucus V., the son of Antiochus Grypus, suc- 
ceeded his father on the Syrian throne and con- 
tinued the war against Antioch Cyzicenus, defeat- 
ing him in a great battle. The vanquished pre- 



126 A Look Through the 

tender committed suicide to avoid capture, but his 
eldest son, Antiochus X., Eusebes, maintained the 
pretensions of the rival house, assumed the royal 
title, and drove Seleucus V. into Cilicia. Seleucus 
endeavored to raise money hy a forced contribution 
from the people of the Cilician town of Mopsulstia, 
but they seized him and burned him alive." — III, 
Hist, of World. 

"Turn his face imto the isles, and shall take many" 
(V. 18). 

That was when the cities of Tyre and Sidon and 
Seleucia and the province of Cilicia revolted and 
achieved independenca 

"Stumble and fall" (v. 19). 

That was when Antiochus Grypus was assas- 
sinated by Heracelon, an officer of the court, who 
made an effort to seize the crown; at which time 
these cities had revolted and Antioch was giving 
attention to the revolting provinces. 

Seleucus Y. stood in the place or office of his 
father, Antiochus Grypus (v. 20), was driven into 
Cilicia by Antiochus X., or Antiochus Eusebes. 
Seleucus Y. levied on the city Mopsulstia of Cilicia 
(v. 20), but was seized by them and burned alive; 
hence was "in a few days destroyed, neither in 
anger nor in battle.'^ 

"And in liis office [margin] shall stand np a contemptible 
person, to whom they had not given the honor of the kingdom : 
but he shall come in time of security, and shall obtain the king- 
dom by flatteries" (y. 21). 

Tigranes, king of Armenia, is here referred 
to (83-69 B. C). "Philip, the brother of Seleu- 



Lens of Prophecy. 127 

cus V. and the second son of Antiochus Grypus, 
succeeded to the Syrian throne, and with the 
assistance of his younger brother, Demetrius, 
and Antiochus Dionysius, continued the war against 
Eusebes for some years; and Eusebes was finally 
defeated and obliged to seek refuge in Parthia. 
But peace was still not restored to the country, 
as Philip and his brothers could not agree upon a 
satisfactory division of power between them, and 
made war upon each other ; and the unhappy king- 
dom only obtained rest when the Syrians, tired of 
these dynastic quarrels, invited Tigranes, king of 
Armenia, to become their sovereign. Tigranes 
readily accepted the invitation and governed Syria 
wisely and well for fourteen years, and the country 
enjoyed tranquility. Finally Tigranes incurred 
the vengeance of the Romans by assisting his 
father-in-law, Mithridates the Great, king of Pon- 
tus, and was forced to relinquish Syria, whose 
crown was then conferred upon Antiochus VIII., 
Asiaticus, who reigned four years (69-65 B. C.) 
and was the last of the Seleucidse." — Hist. World. 

"And with the arms of a flood shall they be swept away 
from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince 
of the covenant" (v. 22). 

"In the year B. C. 74 the Roman Republic be- 
came involved in another war with Mithridates the 
Great, the powerful king of Pontus. After the 
Roman general Lucullus had defeated Mithridates 
and driven him into Armenia, Mithridates was 
aided by his son-in-law, Tigranes, the powerful 
king of Armenia; but Lucullus defeated the Ar- 



128 A Look Through the 

menian king's two hundred thousand men at Ti- 
granocerta, the Armenian capital (B. C. 69), and 
gained another victory over Tigranes the next 
year (B. C. 68). The Eoman troops having mu- 
tinied, Lucullus was defeated by Mithridates. On 
motion of Manlius and Cicero, the Roman Senate 
then invested Pompey with the chief command of 
the Roman army in Asia, and gave him absolute 
power (B. 0. 67). In B. C. 66 Pompey in- 
flicted a crushing defeat upon Mithridates on the 
banks of the Euphrates, overthrew Tigranes, and 
made Pontus a Roman province (B. C. 66). The 
year after his victory over Mithridates (B. C. 65) 
Pompey subverted the Syrian empire of the Seleu- 
cidse, and Syria became a Roman province." — III. 
Hist. World. 

And this constituted "the arms of a flood'' (v. 
22) which swept Tigranes, with the Syrian Empire, 
away. 

**Yea, also, the prince of his [margin] covenant" (t. 22). 

"About this time the throne of Judaea was 
claimed by two brothers, John Hyrcanus II. and 
Aristobulus II. Each applied for aid to Pompey, 
who decided in favor of Hyrcanus. Aristobulus 
prepared to resist the Romans, and shut himself up 
in Jerusalem, which was taken by Pompey after 
a three months' siege (B. C. 63). Hyrcanus was 
seated on the Jewish throne, but was required to 
pay tribute to the Romans." — Hist. World. 

"And after the league made with him he shall work de- 
ceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong, with 
a small people. In time of security shall he come even upon 



Lens of Prophecy. 129 

the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which 
his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall 
scatter among them prey, and spoil, and substance: yea, he 
shall devise his devices against the strongholds, even for 
a time" (vs. 23, 24). 

It must be understood Rome is now the king 
of the north in lieu of Syria. This has reference, 
therefore, to the avaricious and unprovoked Ro- 
man expedition, under Crassus, on its way to in- 
vade the Parthian Empire, who pillaged the tem- 
ple of Jerusalem of its treasures. Judaea was al- 
ready essentially a Roman province by virtue of 
the conquests of Pompey, and was paying tribute 
to Rome by the official exaction of its conqueror. 
Hence it was, or should have been, a time of "se- 
curity" (v. 24) among these subverted Asiatic 
provinces, so recently subverted by Roman arms, 
and made tributary provinces to Rome. Such acts 
as those of Crassus had never been known as hon- 
orable by the Roman military. ("And he shall 
do that which his fathers have not done, nor his 
fathers' fathers" — v. 24.) 

"And he shall stir up his power and his courage against 
the king of the south with a great army; and the king of 
the south shall war in battle with an exceeding great and 
mighty army: but he shall not stand, for they shall devise 
devices against him. Yea, they that eat of his meat shall 
destroy him, and his army shall overflow: and many shall 
fall down slain. And as for both these kings, their hearts 
shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one 
table: but it shall not prosper; for yet the end shall be at the 
time appointed" (vs. 25-27). 

After his defeat at Pharsalia by Julius CsBsar, 
Pompey sought refuge with Ptolemy XIII, of 



130 A Look Through the 

Egypt, "whose father had been restored to the 
Egyptian throne through Pompey's influence some 
years before. Accordingly, Pompey sent a request 
to Ptolemy for his protection. The young Egyp- 
tian king's ministers, either suspecting Pompey's 
designs, or despising his fallen greatness, deter- 
mined on putting him to death; the young king 
was persuaded to this course by a young Koman in 
his army named Septimus, in order to gain the 
favor of the victorious Caesar." — Hist. World. He 
was accordingly assured of protection, deceived 
and assassinated. 

Caesar had closely pursued Pompey to Egypt. 
"To show his disapproval of the treachery of the 
Egyptians in the assassination of Pompey, Caesar 
caused a temple to be erected near Pompey's tomb, 
dedicated to Nemesis, the goddess of vengeance. 
He ordered the assassins put to death. He de- 
posed Ptolemy XIII., and supported the claims of 
Cleopatra II. to the crown of Egypt. Ptolemy's 
adherents then arose against Caesar, who, having 
taken only a few troops with him to Alexandria, 
was soon involved in the greatest peril by this 
sudden outburst of insurrection. A desperate bat- 
tle was fought in the streets of Alexandria. Caesar 
set fire to the Egyptian fleet, but, unfortunately, 
the flames extended to the great library established 
by Ptolemies Soter and Philadelphus, and the 
greater portion of this magnificent collection of the 
most valuable works of antiquity fell a prey to the 
flames. Caesar succeeded in making his escape 
from the city. Caesar received reinforcements from 
Syria, which enabled him to overthrow the army 



Lens of Prophecy, 131 

of Ptolemy XIII., who, after the battle, was 
drowned in the Nile (B. C. 48). Having estab- 
lished Cleopatra upon the throne of Egypt, Caesar 
marched hastily into Asia Minor, Y>^on a decisive 
victory over Pharnaces, defeating him so badly 
that he sent to the Roman Senate his memorable 
dispatch announcing his victory in three words: 
'Veni, Vidi, Vici''' (47 B. a).—Hist. World. 

"They that eat of his meat shall destroy him, and his 
army shall overflow; and many shall fall down slain. And 
as for both these kings, their hearts shall be to do mischief," 
etc. (v. 26). 

This verse has reference to Antony and Cleo- 
patra. Antony, one of the trinity who established 
and formed the triumvirate upon the ruins of the 
Roman Republic, came through the East into 
Egypt about 40 B. C. The Roman supremacy was 
everywhere acknowledged. He exacted contribu- 
tions, bestowed favors and gave away crowns to 
whom he would. "Cleopatra, the beautiful but 
wicked queen of Egypt, strove to allure Antony. 
Antony was in Tarsus, Cilicia, when she deter- 
mined to personally attend his court. She sailed 
down the river Cydnus to meet him, with the most 
magnificent ceremony ; the stern of her galley being 
covered with gold, its sails being of purple silk, and 
its oars of silver, while the rowers were keeping 
time to the sound of flutes and cymbals. Cleo- 
patra exhibited herself reclining on a couch span- 
gled with stars of gold, and such other ornaments 
as are generally ascribed to Venus by poets and 
painters. On each side of her were boys like Cu- 
pids, fanning her by turns ; and charming nymphs. 



132 A Look Through the 

attired like Nereids and Graces, were stationed at 
suitable places around tier. As she was passing, 
the banks of the river were perfumed by the incense 
burning on board her galley; and multitudes of 
people delightedly and admiringly gazed upon the 
spectacle. Antony was soon captivated by her 
beauty; she had thus secured her power; and he 
hastily followed her to Egypt. There he aban- 
doned himself to indolence, luxury and vice, equal- 
ly regardless of the calls of honor, interest or 
ambition." — Hist. World. 

"This course inspired the hatred and revenge 
of Octavius, whose sister, Octavia, was Antony's 
wife ; besides, Antony was now the only obstacle in 
the way of the ambition of Octavius, who was anx- 
ious to make himself sole master of the Roman 
world. 

"Antony's desertion of Octavia, his intended 
marriage of Cleopatra, and his bestowal of several 
Roman provinces in Asia upon the dissolute queen, 
brought matters to the crisis which Octavius de- 
sired, and rendered civil war between the two rivals 
inevitable. 

"Antony was influenced by Cleopatra to hazard 
a naval engagement on September 2, 31 B. C. 
This naval encounter assumed the character of a 
land battle; the ships running alongside of each 
other, and men fighting hand to hand with great 
ardor for a long time. The victory was doubt- 
ful until Cleopatra suddenly turned the fortune of 
the day in favor of Octavius, who fled from the en- 
gagement, and Antony immediately followed her. 
Nevertheless, the battle lasted until evening, when 



Lens of Prophecy. 133 

Antonyms forces were partially beaten by the skill 
of Agrippa, and partially induced to submission by 
the liberal promises of Octavius. 

"Octavius now advanced on each side of Egypt. 
Antony hastened with the Egyptian fleet and army 
to check his progress, but was forced to retreat 
with heavy loss. Antony stationed the Egyptian 
army upon an elevated ground, close to the city. 
He sent orders to his fleet to engage the enemy. 
He waited to view the conflict, and finally he was 
gratified at seeing his galleys advance in good 
order. But his joy soon gave way to rage when 
he saw them salute the ships of Octavius, and both 
fleets uniting and entering the harbor of Alexan- 
dria together. At this same time the Egyptian cav- 
alry deserted Antony. He was obliged to return to 
Alexandria. Overcome with rage and fury, he ran 
about wildly accusing Cleopatra of having be- 
trayed him, when he had sacrificed his interests for 
her sake only. He was not deceived in his suspi- 
cion, as it was by the secret orders of the Egyptian 
queen that her fleet had deserted to the enemy.'' — 
Hist. World. Hence — 

"They that eat of his meat shall destroy him, and his 
army shall overflow [break]: and many shall fall down slain. 
And as for both these kings [Egypt and Rome, or Cleopatra 
and Antony], their hearts shall be to do mischief, and they 
shall speak lies at one table: but it shall not prosper" (vs. 
26, 27). 

Verse 27 ( "For yet the end shall be at the time 
appointed" ) has reference to the end of the king of 
the north, or Romanism, whose end is at the be- 
ginning of the Jewish restoration, and whose end is 



134 A Look Through the 

the end of Gentile supremacy, as spoken of by Paul 
in the eleventh chapter of Romans. 

There were two remaining kings prior to the 
fall of Antony, in Rome ; who were Antony and Oc- 
tavius, of the original triumvirate. Antony's fall 
did not crush Romanism, for Octavius, by whose 
strength he was crushed, was himself a Roman. 
God had appointed the end for Romanism and fixed 
it by prophecy. 

"Then shall he return into his land with great substance" 
(V. 28). 

Octavius' return out of Egypt after consummat- 
ing the overthrow of the Ptolemies, and defeating 
Antony, who had joined Cleopatra and annexed to 
the throne of Egypt some of the Roman provinces. 

"And his heart shall be against the holy covenant; and 
he shall do his pleasure, and return to his own land. At the 
time appointed he shall return, and come into the south; but 
it shall not be in the latter time as it was in the former. 
For ships of Kittim shall come against him; therefore he 
shall be grieved, and shall return, and have indignation 
against the holy covenant, and shall do his pleasure: he 
shall even return, and have regard unto them that forsake 
the holy covenant. And arms shall stand on his part, and 
they shall profane the sanctuary, even the fortress, and shall 
take away the continual burnt offering, and they shall set 
up the abomination that maketh desolate. And such as do 
wickedly against the covenant shall he pervert by flatteries: 
but the people that know their God shall be strong and do 
exploits" (vs. 28-32). 

All the South and East are novN^ tributary to 
Rome. Indeed, the world was at her feet. Herod 
of Idumea has been made king of Judoea. The holij 
covenant has reference to the peculiar agreement 



Lens of Prophecy. 135 

of God with Israel, and was manifested in law, or- 
dinance and government. Administration of law 
was removed from the Jewish executive to the Ro- 
man. Capital offenses belonged to the Roman 
court for adjudication. Upon all questions Rome 
was self-elective in its administration; it sought 
neither advice nor counsel from any of its prov- 
inces. While Palestine, during all the years of 
contention between the North and the South, was 
the middle ground, yet she did not lose control of the 
full exercise of her religious institutions until the 
fall of the house of the Maccabees. Measurably the 
Jews were allowed a qualified independence. 

"At time appointed." That was when Nero sent 
Vespazian and Titus with the Roman legions 
against Jerusalem, and who besieged it in 70 A. D. 
"Indignation against the holy covenant" — the Jews 
— the peculiar people of God, whom he had sa- 
credly guarded and kept during the past fifteen 
hundred years, agreeably to his covenant, or by 
agreement with them. Now the temple is to be re- 
duced to a heap of ruins, the city of Jerusalem is 
to be destroyed and the people dispersed, and God's 
agreement discharged, or, he having fulfilled his 
agreement in Christ, Rome could now "do its pleas- 
ure" upon Jerusalem. Accordingly, the "armies" 
of Rome stood in the temple court, itself a fortress 
to the temple. The feet of the Roman soldiery pro- 
faned the sanctuary ; the "continual burnt offering 
was removed ;" the Roman eagles, or standards, the 
abomination that maketh desolate, were "set up." 

"And such as do wickedly," etc. (v. 32). 



136 A Look Through the 

The people who knew their God were the Chris- 
tian inhabitants. They did exploits when they did 
what Jesus commanded they should do ; namely : 

"When therefore ye see the abominations of desolation, 
which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the 
holy place (let him that readeth understand), then let them 
that are in Judaea flee unto the mountains: let him that is 
on the housetop not go down to take out the things that are 
in his house: and let him that is in the field not return back 
to take his cloke" (Matt, xxiv, 15-18). 

"And now the Romans, upon the flight of the 
seditious into the city, and upon the burning of the 
holy house itself, and of all the buildings lying 
round about it, brought their ensigns to the temple, 
and set them over against its eastern gate; and 
there did they offer sacrifice to them, and there did 
they make Titus imperator, with the greatest ac- 
clamations of joy. And now all the soldiers had 
such vast quantities of the spoils which they had 
gotten by plunder, that in Syria a pound weight 
of gold was sold for half its former value.'' — 
Josephus. 

"But woe unto them that are with child and to them 
that give suck in those days! And pray ye that your flight 
be not in the winter, neither on a sabbath: for then shall 
be great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning 
of the world until now, no, nor ever shall be. And except 
those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been 
saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. 
Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here Is the Christ, 
or, Here; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, 
and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; 
so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I 
have told you beforehand. If therefore they shall say unto 
you, Behold, he is in the wilderness; go not forth: Behold, 



Lens of Prophecy. 137 

he is in the inner chambers; believe it not. For as the light- 
ning Cometh forth from the east, and is seen even unto the 
west; so shall be the coming of the Son of man. Wheresoever 
the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together" 
(Matt. xxiv. 20-28). 

"And now the Romans, judging that it was in 
vain to spare what was round about the holy house, 
burnt all those places, as also the remains of the 
cloisters and the gates, two excepted; the one on 
the east side, and the other on the south; both 
which, however, they burnt afterward. They also 
burnt down the treasury chambers, in which was 
an immense quantity of money, and an immense 
number of garments, and other precious goods, 
there reposited, and, to speak all in few words, there 
it was that the entire riches of the Jews were 
heaped up together, while the rich people had there 
built themselves chambers (to contain such furni- 
ture). The soldiers also came to the rest of the 
cloisters that were in the outer (court of the) tem- 
ple, whither the women and children and a great 
mixed multitude of the people fled, in number 
about six thousand. But before Caesar had deter- 
mined anything about these people, or given the 
commanders any orders relating to them, the sol- 
diers were in such a rage that they set the cloisters 
on fire; by which means it came to pass that some 
of these were destroyed by throwing themselves 
down headlong, and some were burnt in the cloi- 
sters themselves. Nor did any one of these escape 
with his life. A false prophet ( Reland here justly 
takes notice that these Jews who had despised the 
true Prophet were deservedly abused and deluded 



13S A Looh Through the 

by these false ones) was the occasion of these 
people's destruction, who had made a public proc- 
lamation in the city that very day, that God com- 
manded them to get up on the temple, and that 
there they should receive miraculous signs of their 
deliverance. Now, there was then a great number 
of false prophets suborned by the tyrants to impose 
upon the people, who denounced this to them, that 
they should wait for deliverance from God; and 
this was in order to keep them from deserting, and 
that they might be buoyed up above fear and care 
by such hopes. Now, a man that is in adversity does 
easily comply with such promises ; for when such a 
seducer makes him believe that he shall be deliv- 
ered from those miseries which oppress him, then it 
is that the patient is full of hope of such deliv- 
erance. 

"Thus were the miserable people persuaded by 
these deceivers, and such as belied God himself; 
while they did not attend, nor give credit, to the 
signs that were so evident, and did so plainly fore- 
tell their future desolation; but, like men infatu- 
ated, without either eyes to see or minds to con- 
sider, did not regard the denunciations that God 
made to them. Thus there was a star resembling a 
sword, which stood over the city, and a comet, that 
continued a whole year. Thus, also, before the 
Jews' rebellion, and before those commotions which 
preceded the war, when the people were come in 
great crowds to the feast of unleavened bread, on 
the eighth day of the month Zanthicus [Nisan], 
and at the ninth hour of the night (almost a week 
before the Passover), so great a light shone round 



Lens of Prophecy. 139 

the altar and the holy house that it appeared to be 
bright daytime ; which light lasted for half an hour. 
(John xi. 55; xii. 1.) This light seemed to be a 
good sign to the unskillful, but was so interpreted 
by the sacred scribes as to portend these events 
that followed immediately upon it. At the same 
festival, also, a heifer, as she was led by the high 
priest to be sacrificed, brought forth a lamb in the 
midst of the temple. Moreover, the eastern gate of 
the inner (court of the temple) , which was of brass, 
and vastly heavy, and had been with difficulty shut 
by twenty men, and rested upon a basis armed with 
iron, and had bolts fastened very deep into the firm 
floor, which was there made of one entire stone, 
was seen to be opened of its own accord about the 
sixth hour of the night. Now, those that kept 
watch in the temple came thereupon running to the 
captain of the temple, and told him of it ; who then 
came up thither, ana not without great difficulty 
was able to shut the gate again. This also appeals 
to the vulgar to be a very happy prodigy, as if God 
did thereby open them the gate of happiness. But 
the men of learning understood it that the security 
of their holy house was dissolved of its own accord, 
and that the gate was opened for the advantage of 
their enemies. So these publicly declared that this 
signal foreshadowed the desolation that was com- 
ing upon them. Besides these, a few days after 
that feast, on the one and twentieth day of the 
month Artemisius ( Jyar), a certain prodigious and 
incredible phenomenon appeared ; I suppose the ac- 
count of it would seem to be a fable, were it not 
related by those that saw it, and were not the 



140 A Look Through the 

events that followed it of so considerable a nature 
as to deserve such signals; for, before sunsetting, 
chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were 
seen running about among the clouds, and sur- 
rounding of cities. Moreover, at that feast which 
we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by 
night into the inner (court of the) temple, as their 
custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, 
they said that, in the first place, they felt a quak- 
ing, and heard a great noise, and after that they 
heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, *Let 
us remove hence.' But, what is still more terrible, 
there was one Jesus, the son of Ananus, a plebeian, 
and an husbandman, who, four years before the 
war began, and at a time when the city was in 
very great peace and prosperity, came to that feast 
whereon it is our custom for every one to make tab- 
ernacles to God in the temple, began on a sudden to 
cry aloud, ^A voice from the east, a voice from the 
west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against 
Jerusalem and the holy house, a voice against the 
bridegrooms and the brides, and a voice against the 
whole people !' This was his cry, as he went about 
by day and by night, in all the lanes of the city. 
However, certain of the most eminent among the 
populace had great indignation at this dire cry of 
his, and took up the man, and gave him a great 
number of severe stripes ; yet did he not either say 
anything for himself, or anything peculiar to those 
that chastised him, but still he went on with the 
same words which he cried before. Hereupon our 
rulers, supposing, as the case proved to be, that this 
was a sort of divine fury in the man, brought him 



Lens of Prophecy, 141 

to the Roman procurator — where he was whipped 
till his bones were laid bare; yet he did not make 
any supplication for himself, nor shed any tears, 
but, turning his voice to the most lamentable tone 
possible, at every stroke of the whip his answer was, 
Woe, woe to Jerusalem !' And when Albinus ( for 
he was then our procurator) asked him who he was, 
and whence he came, and why he uttered such 
words, he made no manner of reply to what he said, 
but still did not leave off his melancholy ditty, till 
Albinus took him to be a madman, and dismissed 
him. Now, during all the time that passed before 
the war began, this man did not go near any of the 
citizens, nor was seen by them while he said so ; but 
he every day uttered these lamentable words, as if 
it were his premeditated vow, ^Woe, woe to Jeru- 
salem !' Nor did he give ill words to any of those 
that beat him every day, nor good words to those 
that gave him food; but this was his reply to all 
men, and, indeed, no other than a melancholy pres- 
age of what was to come. This cry of his was the 
loudest at the festivals; and he continued the ditty 
for seven years and five months, without growing 
hoarse, or being tired therewith, until the very time 
that he saw his presage in earnest fulfilled in our 
siege, when it ceased; for, as he was going round 
upon the wall, he cried out with his utmost force, 
'Woe, woe to the city again, and to the people, and 
to the holy house!' And just as he added at the 
last, ^Woe, woe to myself also !' there came a stone 
out of one of the engines, and smote him, and killed 
him immediately ; and as he was uttering the very 
same presages, he gave up the ghost." — Josephus, 



142 A Look Through the 

"The terrible dissensions among the Jews, the 
unspeakable suffering of the besieged, the agony of 
the nation shut up within the walls of Jerusalem, 
the destruction of more than a million Jews, the 
enslaving of all the youth, the entire demolition of 
the city, so as to leave no sign of its former occu- 
pancy — all this forms one of the gloomiest pages in 
the annals of man." — Croshy. 

"Ah, the uproar of many peoples, which roar like the 
roaring of the seas; and the rushing of nations, that rush 
like the rushing of mighty waters! The nations shall rush 
like the rushing of many waters: but he shall rebuke them, 
and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff 
of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust 
before the storm. At eventide behold terror; and before the 
morning they are not. This is the portion of them that spoil 
us, and the lot of them that rob us" (Isa. xvii. 12-14), 

The evening is now approaching, and Gentile 
supremacy — of the fourth beast, strange and ter- 
rible — is drawing to a close. Isaiah saw it more 
than seven hundred years before Christ. Do we 
see the terror among the nations of Latin extrac- 
tion drawing near at our doors? God will bring 
these nations into account; they must disgorge 
their gold, and the Jewish family shall again "re- 
sume business at the old stand" — Jerusalem — in 
the fullness of time. We turn to follow the 
prophecy : 

"And they that be wise among the people shall instruct 
many: yet they shall fall by the sword and by flame, by cap- 
tivity and by spoil, many days. Now when they shall fall, 
they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall join 
themselves unto them with flatteries" (vs. 33, 34). 



Lens of Prophecy. 143 

This is the work of the apostles and evangelists 
of our Lord, in which there was a wide publication 
of the gospel in the apostolic and sub-apostolic 
periods. While the Christians in most part were 
exempt from the pain and misery of the siege of 
Jerusalem, yet Roman persecution, under her cruel 
emperors, and even under her best emperors, on 
down to 321 A. D., caused them to fall by the sword 
and by flame, by captivity and by spoil, many days 
(years). This history of the early church is one 
of hardship and pain and suffering and death. 

"The religion established in Judaea by Christ, 
and preached during the first century by Paul and 
the other apostles, had now spread over the western 
empire. It was largely, however, confined to the 
cities, as is curiously shown in the fact that the 
word 'pagan' originally meant only a countryman. 
While the Romans tolerated the religious belief of 
every nation which they conquered, they persecuted 
the Christians alone. This was because the latter 
opposed the national religion of the empire, refused 
to offer sacrifice to its gods, and to worship its em- 
perors. Moreover, the Christians absented them- 
selves from the games and feasts, and were accus- 
tomed to hold their meetings at night, and often in 
secret. They were, therefore, looked upon as ene- 
mies of the state, and were persecuted by even the 
best rulers, as Trajan and Diocletian. This oppo- 
sition, however, served only to strengthen the rising 
faith. The heroism of the martyrs extorted the 
admiration of their enemies. 

"In the year 303 A. D., the joint emperors cele- 
brated the last triumph ever held at Rome. During 



144 A Look Through the 

the same year, also, began the last and most bitter 
persecution of the Christians, so that this reign is 
called the Era of Martyrs." — Barnes. 

"In Rome the Christians were regarded as 
simply a new Jewish sect. And when, in the mid- 
dle of the first century, a disturbance arose among 
the Jews of Rome, both Jews and Christians were 
banished by the emperor Claudius. Nero repre- 
sented the popular hostility to Christianity. He 
was believed to have set fire to Rome, where the 
flames had full sway for nine days. He threw the 
blame, however, on the Christians, and resorted to 
the most barbarous methods to show his rage. He 
even had some Christians smeared with pitch and 
burned alive, while he caused others to be sewn in 
the skins of wild beasts and thrown out to the dogs. 
The persecution continued until his death. Under 
Domitian (A. D. 81-96) a milder policy of hostility 
was observed, the opposition to the Christians 
being chiefly confined to exile and seizure of their 
property. 

"The twelve tables of the Roman law forbade 
the existence of foreign faiths within the domin- 
ions, but the habit had been to conciliate the con- 
quered provinces by toleration of the existing re- 
ligions. The appearance of the Christians, how- 
ever, was the signal for revival of the old 
prohibition. The bonds uniting the Christians 
were close. Their separate services were declared 
an act of hostility to the country. They were ac- 
cused of disobedience to the laws, and of a spirit 
ripe at any moment for insurrection. They were 
charged with immoral practices in their services. 



Lens of Prophecy. 145 

All popular calamities, such as earthquakes, inun- 
dations, pestilence, and defeat in war, were attrib- 
uted to them. A popular proverb ran thus : ^Deus 
non pluit — due ad ChristianosF ^It does not rain 
— lead us against the Christians !' Tertullian has 
left this record of the Roman habit of charging 
the disciples of Christ with all possible calamities : 
^If the Tiber overflow its banks, if the Nile does 
not water the fields, if the clouds refuse rain, if 
the earth shake, if famine or storms prevail, the 
cry always is, "Pitch the Christians to the 
lions V^ ' " — Eurst. 

So, for the first few centuries of the Christian 
era, the church suffered great affliction. It was 
bathed in the blood of persecution, as set forth in 
our historical quotations, and as depicted in 
prophecy as well. 

They were helped by "a little help," when Con- 
stantine made the Christian religion the religion of 
the state. But this ushered in the apostasy of the 
church, which in time brought again oppression, 
persecution and death upon the church for long, 
long centuries. Many joined themselves to the 
church, when it was made a state religion by Con- 
stantine, for its political influence ("many shall 
join themselves unto them with flatteries" — v. 34). 

"And some of them that be wise shall fall, to refine them, 
and to purify, and to make them white, even to the time 
of the end: because it is yet for the time appointed" (v. 35). 

Those who knew the will of God, and performed 
it, were made martyrs for Christ. They were for 
the sanctification of the church, the strengthening 



146 A Look Through the 

of its faith and the foundation of its reformation 
and restoration in the world, unto the end ; that is, 
"after the tribulation of those days [under Eome, 
from Nero to the last pope who is yet to inflict 
punishment upon the church at the "time of the 
end" of Romanism] the sun shall be darkened, and 
the moon shall not give her light, and the stars 
shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heav- 
ens shall be shaken : and then shall appear the sign 
of the Son of Man in heaven [the sign is the union 
of the church of Christ, when the Bride shall make 
herself ready, and the stars of denominationalism 
are fallen, by the renewed persecution and mar- 
tyrdom in the church, when the moon will not give 
her light, etc.] : and then shall all the tribes of the 
earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man 
coming in the clouds of heaven with power and 
great glory. And he shall send forth his angels 
with a great sound of trumpet, and they shall 
gather together his elect from the four winds, from 
one end of heaven to the other." Christ's light (the 
sun) will not shine, for the medium will be dark- 
ened. The church (moon) will be in blood. Per- 
secution will cultivate sympathy and love and 
union among the people of God. 

The very language here locates this period. It 
is not the tribulations which came upon Jerusa- 
lem when Titus besieged it. The world had not 
been widely evangelized at that time. Hence the 
elect could not be called together from the four 
winds. It has reference to the period immediately 
after the sore persecution yet to come upon the 
w^orld, from the Eoman head, which events, by 



Lens of Prophecy. 147 

virtue of their gravity, will cement the people of 
God, and point them to the events in hand. 

"Even the time of the end f that is, in 1932 to 
1968, the times of Gentile fulfillment, and the com- 
ing in of the Jewish period, to the return of Christ, 
when they shall say : "Blessed is he that cometh in 
the name of the Lord." 

"It is yet for the time appointed" (v. 35). 

God pointed this out in the announcement of 
the 2,300 days, shown in a former chapter. 

"And the king shall do according to his will; and he 
shall exalt himself above every god, and shall speak mar- 
vellous things against the God of gods: and he shall prosper 
till the indigi^ation be accomplished; for that which is de- 
termined shall be done." 

This king — the king of the north now — is the 
pope. He has done all the text has announced for 
him. He has done according to his will. He has 
exalted and magnified himself above every god, and 
spoken marvelous things against the God of gods, 
with fearless boldness. He is the blasphemer of 
blasphemers. He is the revealed person of the 
second chapter of II. Thessalonians. 

"The pope, or head of the church, assumed com- 
mand and authority over all the princes and king- 
doms of Christendom. He regarded the empire 
of Germany, and all other Christian kingdoms, as 
Papal fiefs. From the eleventh to the sixteenth 
century the Papal power was at its height. Dur- 
ing that period the power of the pope was so great 
that the most powerful monarch of Europe could 
be subjected to the greatest humiliation by His 



148 A Look Through the 

Holiness. The most powerful, the most illustrious 
and the ablest of the popes, and the one who raised 
the Papacy above every other power in Christen- 
dom, was Gregory VII. (Hildebrand), who com- 
pelled Henry IV., king of Germany, to come to 
Italy and stand three days and three nights bare- 
footed and bareheaded, without tasting a mouthful 
of food. 

"The two punishments by the influence of which 
the pope endeavored to maintain his authority 
were the interdict and the excommunication. The 
Papal punishment by the interdict was forbidding, 
or interdicting, divine service to be publicly per- 
formed. When a nation was under an interdict, 
the churches were all closed, the bells were not 
rung, the dead were thrown into ditches and holes 
without any funeral ceremonies, diversions of all 
sorts were forbidden, and everything presented an 
appearance of gloom and mourning. An interdict 
was leveled at a village, a city, a state, or a nation ; 
but an excommunication was directed against in- 
dividuals. A person excommunicated by the pop 3 
was regarded as unholy and polluted; and every 
person was forbidden to come near him or render 
him any friendly assistance. If the sentence of 
excommunication could be enforced, as in most 
cases it could, the proudest and most powerful 
monarch could become, by a single decree of the 
Holy See, a miserable outcast. 

"The power and influence of the clergy during 
the Middle Ages were almost as great and import- 
ant as was that of the nobles and the princes. Be- 
sides their ecclesiastical dignities, the superior 



Lens of Prophecy. 149 

clergy often held the most important offices of the 
state; and by degrees great numbers of the arch- 
bishops, bishops and abbots acquired extensive pos- 
sessions, so that they finally became as powerful 
and influential as most of the princes. The mag- 
nificent cathedrals and abbeys, adorned with all 
the productions of art, fully attested the greatness 
of the ecclesiastical residences." — Hist. World, III, 
With the information history affords it is use- 
less for us to dwell here upon the titles and preten- 
sions of the pope of Rome. The page is an iniqui- 
tous and blasphemous one. The rot and ruin which 
lurk in the halls and gilded palaces of the Papal 
system is known to all. The usurper of the divine 
scepter, which governs the human heart, has been 
abundantly depicted in prophecy. Our treatise on 
Revelation has more fully dealt with the subject 
of the Papal institutions. 

"And he shall prosper till the indignation be accom- 
plished" (v. 36). 

He, the pope, shall prosper and do wickedly 
until the Jewish indignation is overpast, and that, 
we think, includes the evangelization and restora- 
tion of the same; and, of course, will be after the 
adduction of the evidence which will convict and 
lead them into restoration ; to-wit : the first resur- 
rection, or the resurrection of the martyred dead, 
and all those who have not the "mark of the beast, 
or his image." 

"For that which is determined shall be done" (v. 36). 

The evangelisation of the world, the restoration 
of the Jew, and the coming of our blessed King. 



150 A Look Through the 

The dark period from the cross to His coming is 
for the refining, purifying and sanctification (v. 
35) of the saints of God. 

"Neither will he regard the gods of his fathers" (v. 37). 

The pope will not regard ancient mythology, 
the religion of the emperors prior to Constantine. 
The pope is an emperor and successor to the Roman 
emperors, political. 

"Nor the desire of women" (v. 37). 

The priesthood of the Roman institution do not 
marry, and the lawful and natural desire of women 
for domestic life is disregarded, so far as this king 
and his supporters are personally concerned. 

"The marriage of the clergy was almost univer- 
sal. The canons of the Roman Church had long be- 
fore enforced the celibacy of the clergy. In the reply 
of Pope Nicholas I. to the Bulgarians (A. D. 860), 
in the conclusions of the Synod of Worms (868), 
in Leo VII.'s Epistle to the Gauls and Germans 
(938), in the Councils of Mentz and Metz in 888, 
in the decrees of Augsburg (952), and in Benedict 
YIII.'s speech and the decrees at Pavia, in 1020, 
the practice of clerical marriage was severely con- 
demned. The entire official record of the church 
for two centuries, but not before, had been against 
the marriage of the clergy. Gregory, before any- 
thing else engaged his attention, set himself to 
work to correct the custom. But he little dreamed 
of the opposition which he had to encounter. His 
canons were met with the bitterest opposition. In 
Germany the opposition was intense. In France 
the Archbishop of Rouen was pelted with stones 



Lens of Prophecy. 151 

when attempting to enforce the new Gregorian re- 
form. In Normandy many churches had become 
heritable property to the sons and daughters of 
priests." — Burst. 

"But in his place [oflBce, margin] shall he honor the god 
of fortresses" (v. 38). 

The army was the strength of his support. It 
is true of all emperors and kings. The god of 
battle he would honor. He would grant that favor 
which would place the military in his power, and 
enthrone himself among the nations. Perpetuating 
himself by force. Wrong,^ if perpetuated, must be 
supported by force. Right always stands erect of 
its own strength, and against it "there is no law.'' 

"And a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor 
with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant 
things" (v. 38). 

It is the priestcraft, or priesthood. The Papal 
head could not do his work of infamy without a 
politico-ecclesiastic officer. 

"And he shall deal with the strongest fortresses by the 
help of a strange god" (v. 39). 

The strongest governments shall be taken by 
the surreptitious work of the priesthood, by the 
aid of the confessional, penance and purgatory, 
and with the license of indulgences. 

"Whosoever acknowledges him he will increase with 
glory" (v. 39). 

The politician who bows to Rome has his re- 
ward. It has ever been so. America to-day is 
square-toed on the danger-line. God pity America ! 



152 A Look Through the 

"And he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall 
divide the land for a price" (v. 39). 

This is European history. For us, too, the time 
seems near "when no man can buy or sell except 
he has the mark of the beast in his hand or in his 
forehead " ( Rev. xiii. ) . 

"And at the time of the end shall the king of the south 
contend with him: and the king of the north shall come 
against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horse- 
men, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the 
countries, and shall overflow and pass through. He shall 
enter also the glorious land, and many countries shall be 
overthrown; but these shall be delivered out of his hand, 
Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. 
He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and 
the land of Egypt shall not escape" (vs. 40-42). 

Mohammedanism is the king of the south now. 
Since the Papal power is broken, the ten divisions 
of Europe are the king of the north (so far as tem- 
poral rulership is concerned or power political). 
They constitute the toes of Nebuchadnezzar's great 
image of Gentile supremacy and are all there is 
now left of it. These shall go against Mohammed, 
or the Turkish Empire. The glorious land is Pales- 
tine, and herein will there be made a way for 
Jewish restoration. These events occur "at the 
time of the end," a period we have already set 
forth, and will occur just before Israel shall be 
ready for restoration to her ancient home land, 
where she shall prepare for the coming of her King, 
and when at last her indignation will be overpast, 
and when the new Zion shall welcome our Lord 
and King. 



Lens of Prophecy. 153 

"But these shall be delivered out of his hand, Edom, 
and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. He shall 
stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land 
of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over the 
treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious 
things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall 
be at his steps" (vs. 41-43). 

This is the result of the encounter. Edom and 
Moab, by escaping out of European hands, perhaps 
indicates the geographical location of the Moham- 
medan seat of power, being driven thence from Con- 
stantinople. Europe will subdue the Khedive of 
Egypt and absorb the wealth of that fertile land. 
There will be the harassing neighbors of northern 
Africa who will "be at his steps." 

"But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall 
trouble him: and he shall go forth with great fury to destroy 
and utterly to make away many. And he shall plant the 
tents of his palace between the sea and the glorious holy 
mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help 
him" (vs. 44, 45). 

The East and North, the Chinese and Japanese 
with Russia, will interest Europe (the land of the 
king of the north ) , and the conflict will end in the 
destruction of the last of Roman supremacy. 



154 A Look Through the 



CHAPTER XI. 

(Dan. xii.) 

"And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince 
which standeth for the children of thy people: and there 
shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was 
a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people 
shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in 
the book" (v. 1). 

This time is the time of the last crisis : when the 
world shall be marshaled in Asia ; when missionary- 
enterprise and religious reform have girdled the 
earth. It will be the final contest between the 
forces of light and the forces of darkness, between 
the right and the wrong, between the mighty rulers 
controlling the destinies of men in the world. The 
result? Victory for Christ. The emancipation 
of the elect, and a thousand years of glorious and 
unmolested joy in the Lord. 

"And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth 
shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and 
everlasting contempt" (v. 2). 

This is the first resurrection, as we shall now 
set forth in diagram, extending to 1941, which will 
be fully explained. (For diagram, see next page.) 

This we have repeatedly explained, in Revela- 
tion, and in our preceding chapters here. It is 
clear that the expression, "many of them that sleep 
in the dust of the earth shall awake," does not com- 
prehend all that sleep. Some will be resurrected, 
not all. Daniel will stand up in 1941, at the ex- 



Lens of Prophecy. 



155 




156 A Look Through the 

piration of the 1,335 years, and it will not be much 
of a supposition to suggest it as the time wlien 
^Unany shall awake/' as expressed in verse 2. 

But of those resurrected in the first resurrec- 
tion, there will be the good and the bad, as ex- 
pressed by the words "some to everlasting life, and 
some to shame and everlasting contempt." But not 
the universally bad will be raised. The instruction 
here to Daniel, it will not be forgotten, is concern- 
ing his people (Daniel's — the Jews) in the latter 
days. The message, therefore, is to the Jew, and the 
Jew only. The burden of all of DanieFs visions 
was concerning the Jews as to their destiny under 
God's providence. We may take instruction from 
it, however. In the first resurrection, as shown by 
John, were only the Gentile good, who had not the 
mark of the beast or his image, and those of the 
martyrs of our Lord. It is clear, therefore, the 
purpose of the two books was, the one for the Jew, 
the other for the Gentile. By John's explanation, 
the second resurrection will contain the good and 
the bad, who are judged by the deeds that are done 
in the body, and they will not be justified by purity 
of faith and loyalty to the truth. 

The comprehension of this text is the distinction 
ever made in the Word — the good and the bad. 
There is no mixing of the two classes. No phenom- 
enon in history, or event of nature, will ever recon- 
cile the two elements, or cause God to forget his 
covenants with men. The line is drawn in his law, 
and out of it he will grant honor to whom honor is 
due, and shame, confusion and contempt to those 
who do not the works of his law. 



Lens of Prophecy. 157 

It is the view of the writer that all the Jews 
who lived prior to the cross will be raised at this 
period. But only of the Gentiles, such as we have 
indicated, who have flourished since the cross, and 
who have kept faith with Christ alone. Why? 
Because the Jewish institution was in the form of 
a government. They were looking for a temporal 
Kuler — the Christ. They understood but dimly the 
promise. He came, indeed, but net in the measure 
of their expectations. As a people they rejected 
him. They were cut off, yet not without hope. 
They were by promise to enjoy a dispensation un- 
der the Messiah; "blindness hath fallen on them 
in part until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." 
The Gentile (Koman) has had a fair opportunity. 
Soon the veil which blinds the Jew will be lifted; 
darkness will be entirely removed, and grace and 
truth will be extended to them in full measure. 
There will be shame and contempt on those who 
knew the right, and did it not, but rejected the 
truth, the love and the mercy of God. But there 
will be the glorious realization of fulfilled dreams 
to all who loved and searched for the truth; to 
them who accepted willingly and anxiously the mer- 
cies of God and his Christ. There will, therefore, 
be two companies on earth during the millennium, 
as shown by John in Revelation. The evil com- 
pany will be destroyed when they attempt to be- 
siege the city of God; fire will come down out of 
heaven and consume them. 

"And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of 
the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness 
as the stars for ever and ever" (v. 3). 



158 A Look Through the 

In that period of bliss and light, how the 
teachers (margin) shall illuminate the firmament 
of that heavenly government ; they who accept the 
truth shall enjoy that era of righteousness and 
peace and love. While those whose flaming zeal 
turned many to righteousness, shall be to the eye 
of those who are saved through their influence 
as the stars, or as burning suns in the vaulted 
heavens for ever and ever. 

"But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the 
book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and 
fro, and knowledge shall be increased" (v. 4). 

But with Daniel, the vision of the future can 
only be realized in dream. He may look through 
the lens of prophetic vision and see the transpiring 
events of the future, but herewith he must be con- 
tent until the end of the indignation of his people. 

"Shut up the words, and seal the book." Here 
is the sealed book, perhaps, which so many preach- 
ers have been looking for. It was a sealed book 
to the world from its writing to its fulfillment. 
The wise have ever understood it as the events 
transpired agreeably to its forecast. Ever so far 
as it was unfulfilled, it was sealed in a sense. It 
will only wholly and fully be understood when the 
end of the indignation is accomplished. 

From out the night of ancient and medieval 
times, knowledge has increased with an awakened 
world. Men have become more cosmopolitan ; have 
"run to and fro;" explored the ends of the world, 
until it is but a pleasure trip to circumvent the 
earth. Beyond the narrow limits of Palestine and 
Babylon, the race has expanded until new conti- 



Lens of Prophecy. 159 

nents teem with life and civilization. Learning has 
been extended to the minds of men, and inventions 
from men of humble birth and standing have been 
given back to the world, and their utility has revo- 
lutionized society and civilizations. Since Daniel's 
day learning as profound and deep as earth, as 
high as heaven, as broad as creation, has marked 
her impress on the rounds of many centuries. It 
is a source of satisfaction that we to-day live in the 
culmination of this accumulated wealth — material, 
intellectual, spiritual — and these finishing events 
of a long and weary destiny for our race. 

We have effaced all boundary lines to thought. 
Have explored the earth below and the heavens 
above. Kighteousness, liberty, universality reign 
over us, and in the hearts of all loyal to divine 
truth. Soon, soon, let us believe, the mystery of 
mysteries shall be accomplished, and we shall see 
Jesus face to face, glorified and magnified, in the 
presence of the glory which was his before the 
worlds were framed. 

"Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, 
the one on the brink of the river on this side^ and the other 
on the brink of the river on that side. And one said to the 
man clothed in linen, which was above the waters of the 
river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?" 
(vs. 5, 6). 

In chapter x. we have read the vision wherein 
appears "a certain man," described as being 
"clothed in linen ; whose loins were girded with 
pure gold of UpLaz: his body also was like the 
beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightn'ng, 
and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his 



160 A Look Through the 

feet like in color to burnished brass, and the voice 
of his words like the voice of a multitude." 

Now, here are "other two," standing one on 
either lip of the river. One of these personages 
"said to the man clothed in linen, which was from 
above the waters of the river. How long shall it be 
to the end of these wonders?" The vision occurred 
on one of the rivers tributary to the Euphrates. 
Waters in prophecy represent peoples. In motion, 
it must, therefore, represent people in motion. The 
Euphrates of the East, as we have explained in 
Revelation, becomes typical of the stream of hu- 
manity in its western emigration. The tributary 
to this stream must, in vision, represent a tributary 
migratory stream to the great Euphrates of emi- 
gration. And so the Jews have become tributary, 
starting from Daniel's time, to the general current 
that made up the human Euphrates; marking the 
confluence of these tributaries to the great stream 
of migration in Macedonia, Greece and Rome, it 
flowed westward beyond the continents and seas, 
and is now streaming onward toward Jerusalem, 
hastening its circumvention of the earth, to the 
general consummation of the world's great prob- 
lem. See "From Patmos to the Holy City" for the 
prophetic Euphrates. And thus we see the return- 
ing word shall not be void, but will accomplish 
that whereunto it was sent. 

To our mind, the one clothed in royal linen is 
the Christ. And to him was propounded the ques- 
tion, the same interrogatory we have asked and 
tried to solve in our investigations of prophecy: 
How long shall it be to the end of these vronders? 



Lens of Prophecy. 161 

Henceforth let us be interested in this great prob- 
lem. Let us busy ourselves in the redemption of 
the race while the time is ours to work. 

"And I heard the man clothed in linen, which 'was above 
the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and 
his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for 
ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when 
they have made an end of breaking in pieces the power of 
the holy people, all these things shall be finished" (v. 7). 

This is the declaration of Him who knows all 
things. He says, "It shall be for a time, times and 
an half." A time representing one year, the plural 
of time (or times) would be indicative of two 
years, whilst an half time represents but one-half 
year. The total time then given would be three and 
one-half years, which, reduced to days, and they 
symbolical of so much prophetic time, would aggre- 
gate 1,260 years. 

The time has been duly fixed for the finishing of 
these prophetic wonders. We have illustrated on 
diagram these periods. The first time limit extends 
from 606 A. D., the exaltation of the man of sin as 
the universal bishop of* the world, to 1866, the 
breaking of his temporal power. 

The historic marvels of Gentile supremacy end 
within the limits of the three periods here given to 
Daniel, the last two viewed in the tw^elfth verse of 
this chapter. When the Roman hand "shall have 
accomplished to scatter the power of the holy peo- 
ple, all these things shall be finished.'' Also : 

"And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall 
be led away captive into all nations; and Jerusalem shall be 



162 A Look Through the 

trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles 
be fulfilled" (Luke xxi. 24). 

Once more : 

"What then? That which Israel seeketh for, that he ob- 
tained not; but the election obtained it, and the rest were 
hardened: according as it is written, God gave them a spirit 
of stupor, eyes that should not see, and ears that they should 
not hear, unto this very day. . . . Did they stumble that 
they might fall? God forbid: but by their fall salvation is 
come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. 
Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss 
the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?" 
(Rom. xi. 7-12). 

"And they also, if they continue not in their unbelief, 
shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again. 
. . . For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant of this 
mystery, lest ye be wise in your own conceits, that a harden- 
ing in part hath befallen Israel, until the fulness of the Gen- 
tiles be come in; and so all Israel shall be saved: even as it 
is written, 

There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer; 
He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 
And this is my covenant unto them. 
When I shall take away their sins. 

"As touching the gospel they are enemies for your sakes: 
but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' 
sake. For the gifts and the calling of God are without re- 
pentance. For as ye in time past were disobedient to God, 
but now have obtained mercy by their disobedience, even so 
have these also now been disobedient, that by the mercy 
shown to you they also may now obtain mercy. For God 
hath shut up all unto disobedience, that he might have mercy 
upon all" (Rom. xi. 23-32). 

Daniel heard what had been answered concern- 
ing the time of the fulfillment of these wonders, but 
understood not. 



Lens of Prophecy. 163 

"And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my 
lord, what shall be the issue of these things? And he said. 
Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are shut up and sealed 
till the time of the end. Many shall purify themselves, and 
make themselves white, and be refined; but the wicked shall 
do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand: but 
they that be wise shall understand" (vs. 8-10). 

It was not possible that Daniel could understand 
the things of the long future in his day. The stu- 
dent of history in our day can understand. For 
him, and for the people of antiquity, it was a book 
closed up and sealed, but its truths were to be 
opened at the time of the end. 

"Many shall be purified, and made white, and 
be refined." This was done in Christian evangeliza- 
tion. But it seems not to affect the general wicked- 
ness of the world. The wicked still do wickedly. 
But they do not understand how great these won- 
ders, and how near to their fullness of time, be- 
cause their hearts are not inclined towards God, 
and hence have but little faith in his word, and no 
inclination to investigate its truths. 

The Christian system not having been insti- 
tuted in DanieFs day, it was impossible for the men 
of that period to understand it and the Roman 
apostasy. They stood at a period prior even to the 
supremacy of temporal Rome. But those who 
should pass through these experiences, and wisely 
fathom their meaning, should understand the ful- 
fillment of the same. In this sense we understand 
the words of this prophecy were sealed, or shut up. 

The cleansing work of grace through the gospel 
of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, should per- 



164 A Look Through the 

form its work of ablution. Many should be re- 
deemed, cleansed and purified by it, but the wicked 
would oppose the truth, destroy its work of grace 
and healing, would torture its meaning, and change 
its office and purpose, its commands and ordi- 
nances. Those who would thus maliciously destroy 
the pure words of truth, are in no position to under- 
stand the beautiful portrayal of prophetic light; 
they do not, can not, understand (v. 10) . But they 
who love God's word, obey the ordinances of his 
house, spurn the evil and love righteousness, are in 
a position and a condition receptive to truth, and 
are capable of investigating the secrets of prophetic 
truth, and they shall understand (v. 10). 

For this, then, in the Christian dispensation, 
as was done also in the Jewish, "the daily sacrifice" 
was taken away. "The abomination that maketh 
desolate" was set up. The abomination that mak- 
eth desolate the soul was set up in Pope Boniface 
III. He took away "the daily sacrifice" from the 
altars of the human soul, while desolate and 
ruined ; the temple of humanity was trodden down 
under priestcraft and cunning. 

One abomination was temporal, and against the 
Jewish nation or kingdom. The other, spiritual, 
and against the new Israel of God, or the spiritual 
kingdom. When did the spiritual kingdom begin? 
On the day of Pentecost. The abomination could 
not be set up over the spiritual, until the apostasy 
began, for hitherto the kingdom of Christ was in 
the hearts of men. There was the dispersion of the 
Christians before Kome assailed Jerusalem. But 
both abominations proceeded alike from Rome, 



Lens of Prophecy. 165 

Then came the spiritual abomination of desola- 
tion, when the visual head, ostensibly, of the spir- 
itual kingdom was established, and then only was 
recognized, when his withering decree became oper- 
ative, and oppressive to human liberty, in the elect- 
ive right of worship. This time we have again and 
again set forth. All Christendom then felt his 
power, when elevated to the horizon of their vis- 
ion. It is well understood and known that this 
agent of iniquity shut out God, assumed to be his 
vicegerent, took the pardoning power of God unto 
himself, and dispensed religious tyranny, oppres- 
sion, murder. He precipitated the darkest night 
known to earth, and under its cover the man of sin 
was revealed, who usurped the throne and office of 
Deity, dragged truth from the zenith of the soul, 
and staked his standards of sin and death and 
darkness in the beautiful temple of human hope. 
In each successor abides the incarnated demon of 
the pit. 

"And from the time that the continual burnt offering 
shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh deso- 
late set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety 
days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand 
three hundred and five and thirty days. But go thou thy way 
till the end be; for thou shalt rest, and shalt stand in thy 
lot, at the end of the days" (vs. 12, 13). 

As has been explained, and by reference to the 
diagram, the first fulfillment was the breaking of 
this temporal power of the pope. Victor Emman- 
uel and General Garibaldi began in 1866 what they 
consummated in 1871. The pope then, as now, con- 
sidered himself a prisoner in the Vatican, but he 



166 A Look Through the 

expects — and we think he will again attain to — 
temporal authority through some politico-ecclesi- 
astic movement, pointing to a reclothing with po- 
litical authority apostate religion; we think the 
Roman religion will obtain in Italy, again to be 
broken in the fullness of Gentile supremacy in 
1932. In 1941 Daniel is to stand up, and the writer 
believes, and has so stated, the first resurrection 
will occur, in which the Jews living prior to the 
cross shall be resurrected, as also all worthy Chris- 
tians as before explained. But for Daniel's time 
it was an unsolved problem; he must turn to his 
duties and his responsibilities, and should ^^go his 
way till the end/' He must ^^rest/' fall asleep in 
death, but not without hope, for he must stand in 
his lot — when? ^^At the end of the dags.'' 

May we who regard not the beast, and despise 
his image, revealed or unrevealed, so strive to keep 
ourselves above and beyond worldly ecclesiasti- 
cism, that we shall have no marks of apostasy upon 
our spiritual person that will disbar us from stand- 
ing in the first resurrection at the ^^end of the 
days/' 

God grant that the blood-washed throng of the 
Restoration may never share in unbelief , disobedi- 
ence or apostasy; that it shall be preserved blame- 
less unto the coming of our Lord and Saviour ; and 
that as individuals we may keep watch, guarding 
thought and act, that we may be free from the very 
taint of apostate ecclesiastic contamination, as it is 
known in prophecy and history. 

Let the lens of the revealed Word be applied 
to the spiritual eye, that we may safely guard 



Lens of Prophecy. 167 

against approaching evil; as well may we remem- 
ber, "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." 

"Sooner or later the wrong will be righted, 

Sooner or later the wicked will fail; 

Sooner or later the dark will be lighted. 

Sooner or later the good will prevail. 

"Sooner or later the load will be lighter. 
Sooner or later the struggle will cease; 
Sooner or later the sky will be brighter, 
Spanned by the beautiful rainbow of peace. 

"Sooner or later the doubts and the dangers 

All will be over, forever and aye; 
Sooner or later will travel-worn strangers 
Enter the home at the end of the way. 

"Sooner or later God will reward us 
For all that we do." 

— Jessie H. Brown. 



168 A Look Through the 

A CHAPTER ON THE JEW. 



"And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and 
their offspring among the people: all that see them shall 
acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord 
hath blessed" (Isa. Ixi. 9). 

The Jew is the miracle of the ages. Marvelous 
and wonderful are the favors that have been shown 
him ; but, to us, he himself outmiracles all miracles 
done unto him. Though deep the ignominy and 
shame that have overwhelmed him, yet glorious has 
been his Supremacy in wisdom, law and govern- 
ment. Equity and justice were vouchsafed unto 
all, and the nation rejoiced together for all the 
beauty, strength and order their system as a gov- 
ernment had evolved to them. Once the nations 
came to them for wisdom, instruction and law ; now 
they are divided, hissed and scorned in their defeat, 
humiliation and degradation. Scattered as they 
are to the four corners of the earth, distributed 
among the peoples of the world, all national bonds 
and ties erased, nothing to mark and hold them in 
common, or to collect them in any great center or 
land division, yet everywhere you behold him, there 
is the Jeio. The mark of Jehovah is upon him, and 
he holds his distinctive title as a peculiar people. 
His identity is everywhere known. He is discerned 
by all. His peculiarities are his own, and can not 
be assumed by another. His face, his features, his 
mind and his thought carry the mold and bias of 
generations long gone by. 



Lens of Prophecy. 169 

Other peoples have been overthrown, dragged 
into captivity, subjugated and scattered abroad, 
but they have become lost in the great sea of hu- 
manity. After centuries of dispersement, as hope- 
less fugitives, scattering everywhere, having no 
shepherd or visible head or ruler, they still retain 
their distinctive identity as a people. They do not 
amalgamate with the people of the various nations 
in which they drift and commingle. "All that see 
them, acknowledge them the seed which the Lord 
hath blessed.'' 

God will keep the covenant he made with Abra- 
ham, with Isaac and with Jacob, for his oath's 
sake, and for the sake of the salvation and redemp- 
tion of the people he loved, and for the honor and 
glory of the strong lineage through which the 
blessed Prince was given to the world. And "when 
the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his 
glory" to reign over them, and "all who love his 
appearing." God is never defeated in his purposes. 
The Lord Jesus Christ is the King of the Jews, and 
he will reign over them and govern them. As 
adopted children, we, too, shall enjoy the glorious 
luxury of citizenship in the most gracious and holy 
empire of truth and holiness, which Christ shall 
establish. 

The Lord has said by the voice of the prophet : 
"I have created him [Jacob] for my glory, I have 
formed him ; yea, I have made him." Again : "This 
people I have formed for myself; they shall show 
forth my praise." 

"But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, 
and he that formed thee, O Israel: fear not, for I have re- 



170 A Look Through the 

deemed thee; I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. 
When thou passest through the waters, I will he with thee; 
and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when 
thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; 
neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lobd 
thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour" (Isa. xliii. 1-3). 

"Waters," in prophecy, we have shown to repre- 
sent peoples. The Jew has passed through the peo- 
ples of many nations, and God has been with him 
to preserve the identity of the race, though he may 
be unconscious of the divine overshadowing. He 
has floated in many migratory streams (through 
the rivers), and he has not been overflowed, or lost 
from sight in the mighty onpush of the great 
streams of humanity among the families of the 
earth. He has been subjected to divers persecu- 
tions (walkest through the fires), but no hurt has 
come to the royal blood of that distinguished lin- 
eage. Persecutions have not consumed them. They 
are preserved as a people. This preservation is for 
their salvation, and for the glory and honor of God, 
no doubt. 

The Jew has been as sinful as human flesh. 
But that gives room and occasion for the mercy of 
God. Mercy would not be required if none had 
sinned. Like all the flesh of men, Israel had erred, 
gone astray. God reproved, rebuked, chastised and 
finally sent them into captivity, and placed his "in- 
dignation" over them for 2,520 years. It was done 
to teach them and us that God is our Lawgiver 
and our Judge, to whom we must account; the 
King to whom the homage and devotion of our 
souls belong. 



Lens of Prophecy, 171 

"Hear, ye deaf, and look, ye blind, that ye may see. Who 
is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I 
send? who is blind as he that is at peace with me, and blind 
as the Lord's servant? Then seest many things, but thou ob- 
servest not; his ears are open, but he heareth not. It pleased 
the Lord, for his righteousness' sake, to magnify the law, and 
make it honorable. But this is a people robbed and spoiled; 
they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in 
prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a 
spoil, and none saith. Restore. Who is there among you that 
will give ear to this? that will hearken and hear for the 
time to come? Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the 
robbers? did not the Lord? he against whom we have sinned, 
and in whose ways they would not walk, neither were they 
obedient unto his law. Therefore he poured upon him the 
fury of his anger, and the strength of battle; and it set him 
on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet 
he laid it not to heart" (Isa. xlii. 18-25). 

While God turned his people over for chastise- 
ment, to become subordinate to Gentile supremacy, 
they were dealt with unkindly and severely. They 
were robbed, spoiled and enslaved. For this the 
Gentile world must make recompense. 

**And they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob 
those that robbed them, saith the Lord God" (Ezek. xxxix. 10). 

"Thou Shalt also suck the milk of the nations, and shalt 
suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the 
Lord am thy saviour, and thy redeemer, the Mighty One of 
Jacob" (Isa. Ix. 16). 

Here, now, we have pointed out clearly unto us 
the Jewish wisdom and sagacity in the accumula- 
tion of wealth in these last days of their "indigna- 
tion," and just prior to their returning to build 
again their homes in Palestine and to beautify 
Jerusalem. 



172 A Look Through the 

"And strangers shall bnild up thy walls, and their kings 
shall minister unto them: for in my wrath I smote thee, but 
in my favor have I had mercy on thee" (Isa. Ix. 10). 

"For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee 
shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted" (Isa. 
Ix. 12). 

The word, or phrase, ^Hhoii. shalt rob/' in these 
prophetic utterances must not be taken in the sense 
of the commandment, ^Hhou shalt T but in the pro- 
phetic usage; the things set forth which would be 
done are in the potential sense rather than the im- 
peratiye. The Jew is not robbing because God 
said, ^Hhou shalt roh/' In the prophecies he says 
thou shalt, because it was the very thing they 
would do. 

"For I the Lobd love judgment, I hate robbery with in- 
iquity" (Isa. Ixii. 8). 

And now who is leeching from the nations their 
vitality and their strength? Who has throttled the 
very institution of government itself, and caused it 
to unload into their coffers? Who formulates the 
financial policies of the world, and causes their en- 
actment into law, without the aid, consent or de- 
sires of the people? Where is that mighty Octupus 
of wealth whose tentacles ai-e entwined about every 
dome and capital in every nation and principality 
and kingdom of all the earth — literally "sucking 
the blood of kings''? Like the voice of God, the 
demands of this power regulate the financial poli- 
cies of the world. What nation can survive who 
refuses to come to the gold standard in finance, 
and pay tribute to this great head of wealth — the 
Jewish brokers and syndicates, a branch of which 



Lens of Prophecy, 373 

is located in all the important cities of Christen- 
dom? The credit of any nation would not be good 
throughout the whole realm of civilization who 
would refuse to recognize the stupendous fact in 
hand. 

How long this Jewish greed and aggression has 
been extant we can not say. But its telling effects 
seem to be of modern date. Waterloo was a turn- 
ing-table in the world's history. From that inci- 
dent Jewish supremacy in financial circles of Eng- 
land has been noticeable. The hour of a nation's 
peril and distress subserved the purpose of infamy 
and gain. 

It is ours to show that the Jews are to rob and 
spoil the Gentile nations, agreeably to the proph- 
ecy. Scattered as they are, they could not marshal 
armies to overthrow and defeat the powerful na- 
tions of earth. A more subtle, effectual and sys- 
tematic method is employed for plundering the 
kingdoms. Our circle is too narrow to see beyond 
that we may understand and note the methods and 
successes abroad. But it will be easy for us to pre- 
sent the facts in our country. Our mission here is 
not to subserve political ends. The questions pre- 
sented in the matters we have to present have been 
before the people and are settled. While they can 
not have a potent effect in our politics again, they 
are facts which can not be set aside, and as such 
become vital to our discussion here. 

Mr. Hazzard, a London banker, in his circular 
to American bankers in the year 1862, says, among 
other things : ^^The great debt that capitalists will 



174 A Look Through the 

gee to it IS made out of the war, must be used as a 
measure to control the volume of money." 

"To do this, the bonds must be used as a bank- 
ing basis." 

"We are now waiting to get the Secretary of the 
Treasury to make this recommendation to Con- 
gress." 

"It will not do to allow the greenback, as it is 
called, to circulate as money any length of time,^ 
for we can not control them." 

"We can control the bonds, and through them' 
the bank issues." 

We do not affirm that Mr. Hazzard is a Jew. 
We do not know. But he introduces his circular 
by saying, "I and my European friends are in favor 
of," etc. The strong money centers of Europe at 
that time were Jewish banking-houses. This cir- 
cular letter, and the fruits borne thereof, had its 
origin and birth ir^ Jewish breasts. 

Accordingly, the Treasury note was disabled, ex- 
cepting the first sixty million dollars of greenback 
issue, which was not crushed by the disabling act. 
These first sixty million dollars always passed at 
par. But those coming after were disabled and 
dishonored by this sin; were purchaseable at a 
given time, at about one-third their face value ; con- 
verted into a national debt (bonded debt), and 
made worth one hundred cents on the dollar to the 
capitalist. This we regard as robbery — stealing 
and plundering from our great republic in the time 
of war, and when our people were too busily ab- 
sorbed in the momentous question of the preserva- 



Lens of Prophecy, 175 

tion of the Union, to be vigilant of its financial 
safety and security. 

"It is literally true that the great Rebellion was 
suppressed and the Union upheld by the expedient 
of a non-interest-bearing paper currency devised in 
the presence of the overwhelming exigency of war 
and dismemberment. The precious metals dived 
out of sight. The world knows the story. The 
United States went upon a basis of paper. For 
four years of war and fourteen years of peace, the 
bnances of the nation and of the people in their 
private capacities were conducted on a legal tender 
of paper. Metallic money and the money metals 
rose rapidly in value, or, at least, in price. Now 
gold was at a premium of 30 per cent. ; now 50 per 
cent. ; now 100 per cent. ; and finally, 185 per cent, 
above par. Gold and silver money became a tradi- 
tion and a myth. The people neither knew nor 
cared what had become of them. 

"Owing to the nefarious exception in the legal- 
tender currency in favor of the interest on the pub- 
lic debt and duties on imports, a gold exchange was 
organized in New York, and gold was bought with 
which to pay the semi-annual coupons of the bonds 
and the duties on imported goods. Trading in gold 
and in the speculative margins of gold became a 
business, in some sense the greatest of all the busi- 
nesses ; certainly it was the most picturesque. 

"It was under these conditions that the great 
bulk of the national debt was put into the form 
of bonds. The bonds were purchased with the legal 
money of the country. They were purchased at 
par according to the standard of the universal cur- 



176 A Look Through the 

rency. ... In this manner the national debt 
became a bond. 

"The debt-making epoch of the Civil War covered 
a period of four years, ten months and nineteen 
days. The middle date of this period was Sept. 
9, 1863 ; but by far the greater part of the debt was 
incurred after that data The premium on gold 
reached 50 per cent, on Dec. 14, 1863, and remained 
above that figure for one year, three months and 
twenty-seven days, covering the period of greatest 
debt-making. Gold reached 200 on the 21st of 
June, 1864, and remained above 200 until Feb. 22, 
1865. It reached the topmost figure of 285 on the 
12th of July, 1864. The dealers in bonds called it 
a ^flurry in gold !' This was the period of the max- 
imum debt-making. The legal-tender currency with 
which the bonds at that crisis were purchased was 
worth thirty-five cents by the gold standard. It 
was the very heyday, when the bond-nest was feath- 
ered for the laying of the golden egg.^^ — Prof. John 
Clark Ridpath, LL. D. 

"The efficacy of the legal-tender currency in the 
suppression of the Kebellion has never been — can 
never be — overestimated. Twelve years after the 
war, Hon. Wm. D. Kelley, of Pennsylvania, ad- 
dressing an assemblage of ex-Confederate officers 
at Macon, Ga., said : ^Your leaders were mistaken 
in their financial theory. They believed that the 
United States could use nothing but gold and 
silver as money, and that as they had none of these 
metals, they could not put armies in the field to 
overwhelm you, or fleets upon the ocean to blockade 
your coasts ; they had not studied the Constitution 



Lens of Prophecy, 111 

to see that the Government has control of the ques- 
tion of what shall be money. We discovered that it 
had, and when we could not get gold or silver, 
we made the greenback, and it was that that 
whipped you.' ^Yes,' said one of the officers with 
enthusiasm; ^ Judge Kelley, you are right; it was 
the greenback that whipped us!' This is the cur- 
rency that Shylock is now trying to have canceled 
hecaicse it is so great a menace to the interests of 
the people! He desires to have the legal-tender 
currency destroyed, in order that money sharks 
may be prevented from using that currency to 
deplete the National Treasury of its gold! The 
hypocrisy of such a pretence is beyond the reach of 
satire !" — John Clark Ridpath. 

Speaking upon the exception clause of the 
greenback, Thaddeus Stevens said in Congress : "I 
have melancholy forebodings that we are about to 
consummate a cunningly devised scheme, which 
will carry great injury and a great loss to all 
classes of the people, throughout the Union, except 
one. It makes two classes of money — one for the 
banks and the other for the people." 

And Henry Wilson, afterwards Vice-President 
to Hayes, said : "I look upon this contest as a con- 
test between the curbstone brokers, the Jew brok- 
ers, the money brokers and the men who speculate 
in stocks, and the productive, toiling men of our 
country.'' 

John Sherman said of it : "It became necessary 
to depreciate the notes [greenbacks] in order to 
create a market for the bonds." 



178 A Look Through the 

As with dishonoring the people's credit, so, also, 
with the demonetization of silver. 

"By the beginning of the eighth decade thus 
mnch had been accomplished. The fund-holding 
interest had confirmed itself to the extent of get- 
ting a long bond for a short one, with the guaranty 
of payment of both principal and interest in coin. 
The next point attained by the bond-holding power 
— for it had now become a power — can hardly be 
touched upon with equanimity. The coin of the 
United States existed in two kinds, silver and 
gold. Should the Government ever again reach tbe 
basis of specie payments, the debtor would have tLe 
option of paying in the one coin or the other, ac- 
cording to his convenience and the plentifulness 
of the given kind. This option constitutes the es- 
sential element of bimetallism. That it could be 
taken away from the debtor seems in the retrospect 
a thing so monstrous as to be incredible. It was a 
valuable option which the debtor in the United 
States had unchallenged from the foundation of the 
Government. No creditor had ever tried to take 
it from him. It had never been denied by any. It 
had always been cheerfully conceded down to the 
time of the Civil War, when an unforeseen condi- 
tion removed all coin and put the country, as we 
have seen, on the basis of a legal tender of paper. 

"Now that coin was again in sight, or was sup- 
posed to be coming in sight ; now that the Govern- 
ment had declared its purpose to pay the national 
debt in coin, though that debt had been contracted 
on a basis of paper, it might reasonably have been 
supposed that the bond-holding interest would be 



Lens of Prophecy. 179 

contented with that enormous concession, and, be- 
ing thus glutted to repletion, would seek no further 
extortion from the American people. But, on the 
contrary, the monstrous scheme was conceived of 
destroying the option of the debtor to pay in silver, 
by destroying the coin mint of that metal, thus re- 
ducing the debtor — all debtors, including the Gov- 
ernment of the United States — to the necessity of 
paying in gold only. The scheme was not only 
conceived, but was contemplated with equanimity, 
not indeed by the people, but by those whose inter- 
ests were so profoundly concerned. In the last ses- 
sion of the Forty-second Congress, the question was 
insinuated into legislation, but was housed from 
the public with a skill worthy the noblest cause. 

"Words are inadequate to describe the pro- 
fundity and criminality of this scheme. It was car- 
ried into effect by the act of Feb. 18, 1873. It was 
done by a turn of Shylock's wrist, so adroit, and 
one might say devilish, as to be indescribable in the 
phraseology of this world. It was an act on which 
no king of the seventeenth century would have ven- 
tured without incurring the risk of revolution. It 
was an act which, instead of being misrepresented 
by those who have found it out and nailed it to 
the gibbet of public contempt, has never been ade- 
quately denounced. It was an act which has posi- 
tively blackened the honor of the American Re- 
public. It was an act which though subsequently 
defended, even to the present day, by all the pur- 
chased ability of the world, is nevertheless con- 
demned by the conscious and common sense of 
mankind as the most cold-blooded, unjust, uncalled- 



180 A Look Through the 

for, unmitigated and damnable outrage ever done 
in this century of the rights and interests of a great 
people ! 

"The act of 1873 abolished the standard unit of 
money and account in the United States. Until 
that time all other coins in use under our Constitu- 
tion and statute had been made to do obeisance to 
the silver dollar as the unit of money and account. 
That dollar had never been altered by the fraction 
of one grain in the quantity of pure metal compos- 
ing it from the time when it was ordained in 1792 
to the time when it was abolished from the lists 
of coins to be henceforth struck at the mints of the 
United States. 

"Not a single dictionary or encyclopaedia in the 
English language before the year 1878 even de- 
fined dollar in any terms other than of silver. In 
that year the administrators of the estate of Noah 
Webster, deceased, cut the plates of our standard 
lexicon and inserted a neiv definition that had be- 
come necessary in order to make the bond intrigue, 
in Congress and out of it, consist ! 

"To abolish that unit, to strike it down, to can- 
cel it, and to substitute another therefor, was a 
crime ! It has been rightly so branded by the Amer- 
ican people, and it will be so written in history. 
It makes no difference whether it was done secretly 
or openly; whether in the day or in the night; 
whether by a committee or by the House in full 
debate; whether Congress understood it or did not 
understand it. It was a crime all the same against 
the rights and interests of the American people; 
aye, against the American people themselves and 



Lens of Prophecy, 181 

against all the people of the world ; for it was done 
against justice, against truth, against the law of 
both man and God.'' — Ridpath. 

Now, how was it done? We must see, in order 
to associate the discussion with our subject in 
hand. 

Hear Mr. Hooper, of Massachusetts, chairman 
of the Committee on Coinage: "Ernest Seyd, of 
London, a distinguished writer and bullionist, who 
is now here, has given great attention to the sub- 
ject of mint and coinage. After having examined 
the first draft of this bill, he made various sensible 
suggestions, which the committee adopted and em- 
bodied in the bill." — Cong. Record, Apr. 9, 1872, 
p. 2032. 

"In 1872, silver being demonetized in France, 
England and Holland, a capital of one hundred 
thousand pounds (|500,000) was raised, and Er- 
nest Seyd, of London, was sent to this country with 
this fund as the agent of the foreign bondholders 
and capitalists to effect the same object, which was 
accomplished." — Bankers' Magazine, August, 1873. 

"Hon. Gilbert De Lamatyr, of Indiana, said 
that Judge Kelley, of Pennsylvania, stated to him 
that he [Judge Kelley] saw the draft of the bill 
by which silver was demonetized, in the handwrit- 
ing of Ernest Seyd, of London." 

Wm. M. Stewart, in his letter to John Sherman, 
under date of Aug. 24, 1896, gives the most lucid 
history of the demonetization of silver. He says 
to Mr. Sherman : "In the spring of 1867 you went 
to London. You afterwards visited Paris and 
wrote a letter to Samuel B. Ruggles, the American 



182 A Look Through the 

commissioner to the monetary conference then in 
session at Paris, advocating the single gold stan- 
dard. Your letter, which you will find on page 
407 of your autobiography, and extracts from the 
reports of Mr. Ruggles to the State Department, 
show how valuable your services were in connec- 
tion with the English delegation in securing the 
adoption by the Paris conference of a resolution 
recommending the gold standard. The following 
winter, in 1868, you introduced a bill in the Senate 
entitled ^An act in relation to the coinage of gold 
and silver,' the third section of which reads as fol- 
lows : 

" 'Sec. 3. And be it further enacted. That the 
gold coins to be issued under this act shall be a 
legal tender in all payments to any amount; and 
the silver coin shall be a legal tender to an amount 
not exceeding |10 in any one payment.' 

"You made a favorable report on this bill, in 
which you said, among other things, that 'the single 
standard of gold is an American idea, yielded re- 
luctantly to France and other countries, where sil- 
ver is the chief standard of value.' Senator E. D. 
Morgan, of New York, filed a minority report, 
which exposed your scheme and caused you to 
abandon the bill. 

"After Mr. Morgan left the Senate, a commit- 
tee was formed in the Treasury Department, with 
John Jay Knox at the head, which framed a bill of 
seventy sections codifying the mint laws. You 
managed to secure the passage of this codification 
bill through the Senate without attracting the at- 
tention Oi the Senate to the fact that it omitted the 



Lens of Prophecy. 183 

silver dollar from the list of coins. My speech of 
Sept. 5, 1893, shows how skillfully you manipu- 
lated that legislation. Your charge to me and 
others that we ought to have known what was in 
that codification bill is answered by the fact that 
legislative bodies do not ordinarily examine as ac- 
curately as they should, perhaps, bills which ema- 
nate from the departments and purport to be codi- 
fications; particularly when they have confidence 
in their committees. It is the duty of committees 
to examine such bills and inform the Senate of any 
important changes in the laws. You knew that the 
demonetization of silver was an important changa 
You had made it a specialty in Paris and in the 
committee-room of the Senate, but you never men- 
tioned it in the open Senate. 

"I defy you to find another case where an im- 
portant measure, which the chairman of the com- 
mittee knew was an important measure, was ever 
engineered through the Senate without a statement 
from the Senator in charge of what the bill con- 
tained. If it had been a short bill, and not a codi- 
fication bill, the scheme would have been detected. 
That was the fault of your bill of 1868. It was 
short and direct, but after Senator Morgan's re- 
port it had no possible chance of passage. This you 
well knew. You also knew from your experience 
that codification bills coming from the Department 
would not be carefully scrutinized, and from the 
record in the case which is given in the *True His- 
tory of the Demonetization of Silver,' it will appear 
how you cunningly misled the Senate. 



184 'A Look Through the 

"The only defense which jou make is that yon 
were not caught at it while the bill was pending. 
. . . If you have any other defense for de- 
monetizing silver when the silver in the silver dol- 
lar was worth three per cent, more than the gold 
in the gold dollar, the public will undoubtedly be 
glad to hear from you." 

In substantiation of what Mr. Stewart says, 
let us introduce but a few witnesses from the long 
list of wise and honored men — men whose sterling 
veracity is above reproach, and can not be ques- 
tioned. 

General Garfield, in a speech at Springfield, O., 
in the fall of 1877, said : 

"Perhaps I ought to be ashamed to say so, but 
it is the truth to say that I, at that time being 
chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, and 
having my hands full during all that time with 
work, never read the bill. I took it upon the faith 
of a prominent Democrat and a prominent Eepub- 
lican, and I do not know that I voted at all. There 
was no call of the yeas and nays, and nobody op- 
posed that bill that I know of. It was put through 
as dozens of bills are, as my friend and I know, in 
Congress, on the faith of the report of the chair- 
man of the committee; therefore, I tell you, be- 
cause it is the truth, that I have no knowledge 
about it." 

Senator Beck, in Senate, Jan. 10, 1878: "It 
[the bill demonetizing silver] never was under- 
stood by either House of Congress. I say that with 
full knowledge of the facts. No newspaper re- 
porter — and they are the most vigilant men I ever 



Lens of Prophecy. 185 

saw in obtaining information — discovered it had 
been done.'' — Cong. Record^ Vol. VII., Part 1, 
Forty-fifth Congress, second session, p. 260. 

Mr. Burchard, of Illinois, in speech in Con- 
gress: "The coinage act of 1873, unaccompanied 
by any written report upon the subject from any 
committee, and unknown to the members of Con- 
gress, who without opposition allowed it to pass 
under the belief, if not assurance, that it made no 
alteration in the value of the current coins, changed 
the unit of value from silver to gold." — Ibid, p. 
4560. 

Mr. Kelley, of Pennsylvania: "Though chair- 
man of the Committee on Coinage, I was ignorant 
of the fact that it would demonetize the silver dol- 
lar, or of its dropping the silver dollar from our 
system of coins, as were those distinguished Sena- 
tors, Messrs. Blaine and Vorhees, who were the 
members of the House, and each of whom a few 
days since interrogated the other: ^Did you know 
it was dropped when the bill passed?' *No,' said 
Mr. Blaine; ^did you?' ^No,' said Mr. Vorhees. I 
do not think that there were three members in the 
House that knew it." — Cong. Record, Vol. VII., 
Part 2, Forty-fifth Congress. 

Mr. Holman : "I have before me the record of 
the proceedings of this House on the passage of 
that measure, a record which no man can read 
without being convinced that the measure and the 
method of its passage through this House was a 
colossal swindle. I assert that the measure never 
had the sanction of this House, and it does not 
possess the moral force of law." — Cong. Record, 



186 A Look Through the 

Vol. IV., Part 6, Forty-fourth Congress, first ses- 
sion. Appendix, p. 193. 

Tliis is sufficient, out of the vast accumulated 
evidence, to show that our nation has been robbed ; 
and the iniquity will be perpetuated. 

A bonded indebtedness is now assured forever. 
A premium can be placed on gold by withdrawing 
it from circulation, and the Treasury can be made 
to issue bonds to save a panic at any moment 
desired. A close study of these questions will show 
us the inspiration for all the financial iniquity that 
has overwhelmed us, to have had its origin in 
European money centers. That those money cen- 
ters are the large Jewish bankers of the world, we 
think there is no doubt. "Ye shall eat the wealth 
of nations, and in their glory shall ye boast your- 
selves" (Isa. Ixi. 6). 

The American people do not wish to destroy 
their own government, but the testimony of no less 
a personage than Oliver P. Morton, of Indiana, is 
that: "There is gathered around the Capitol of 
this nation a gang of miserable stock jobbers, with 
no more conscience than pirates, inspired solely 
by a greed for gain, and they thundered success- 
fully at these doors until they drove this Govern- 
ment into the most preposterous acts of bad faith 
and legalized robbery that ever oppressed a free 
nation since the da^vTi of history." 

We have not the data to review foreign nations 
relative to their financial policies, but our own 
provides a suitable type for study. For if such 
things may be done to a free people, self-governed, 
what more should we expect from a government 



Lens of Prophecy. 187 

more central and despotic? All, or nearly all, have 
been reduced to the gold standard. And therefore, 
through the same process of action, the life and 
strength of all will flow into Jewish families, and 
these Jewish families will in the end return with 
their spoil to Jerusalem to reconstruct their own 
country and government, before, too, they are con- 
verted to the Christ, as we believe. 

Such is the diabolical work that has been enact- 
ing against the rights and privileges of the people, 
and will continue to enact, until anarchy will at 
last expel the money power. England and America, 
the great Anglo-Saxon family, the dominant Gen- 
tile elements of modern civilization, are being 
leeched of their vast resources. They are being 
plundered and spoiled. But the same agency is 
victimizing all the kingdoms. They are "sucking 
the breasts of kings." 

In this time of anarchy, the wealthy will be 
unhappy. These conspirators, particeps with the 
Jew, but native of their respective kingdoms, will 
reap the fruit of the prediction of James, while 
the Jew will hie away. 

"Go to now, ye rich, weep and howl for your miseries 
that are coming upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and 
your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver 
are rusted; and their rust shall he for a testimony against 
you, and shall eat your flesh as fire. Ye have laid up your 
treasure in the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers who 
mowed your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth 
out: and the cries of them that reaped have entered into the 
ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Ye have lived delicately on 
the earth, and taken your pleasure; ye have nourished your 



188 A Look Through the 

hearts in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned, ye have 
killed the righteous one; he doth not resist you. 

"Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming, of the 
Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit 
of the earth, being patient over it, until it receive the early 
and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for 
the coming of the Lord is at hand. Murmur not, brethren, 
one against another, that ye be not judged: behold, the judge 
standeth before the doors. Take, brethren, for an example 
of suffering and of patience, the prophets who spake in the 
name of the Lord. Behold, we call them blessed which en- 
dured: ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen 
the end of the Lord, how that the Lord is full of pity, and 
merciful" (Jas. v. 1-11). 

We are astonished to note the patient submis- 
sion of the people to this plundering. It must be 
the literal fulfillment of the above admonition. 

Just now there is a mad stampede for gold. 
Men are hustling everywhere, on every moun- 
tain-side and in the frigid zone, for gold, suffering 
the privation of every comfort to obtain the same. 
And why? Because the avenue, for its sure 
delivery, is established to Jerusalem ; to Jerusalem 
it will go. There is not enough gold in all the 
world, yet in the sight of human eyes, to pay the 
debts, now payable in gold alone, to the capitalists, 
to say nothing of the more domestic obligations 
of the world. 

All this will redound to the beauty of our 
King. Brethren, be patient, with the patience of 
a Job, we are admonished. Nothing shall be "hurt 
in all the holy mount.'' The gold and the silver 
are the Lord's. We are his servants. W^hen the 
Lord shall build up Jerusalem, we shall be of that 



Lens of Prophecy. 189 

principality. What is our loss now, will be our 
gain there. Just now cause and effect are opera- 
tive. Retaliation is upon the Gentile world. It 
is not the divine decree. But God will establish 
justice and equity by and by. 

Just now, perhaps, the Jew has no inclination 
of leaving the *^jflesh-pots" of the Gentile world. 
They may have no intentions of going to this barren 
home — Palestine. The climate there is not con- 
genial either, until the Mohammedan has finished 
his residence there, and withdrawn his dominion 
from over the same. But even he will perform this 
when the time is fully come. 

Again, why should the Jews return to Jerusa- 
lem? They are thrifty here. They are faring well. 
They are enjoying equal rights with us. Why 
should they abandon the Gentile field since they 
have become acclimated and are now made honor- 
able? James has furnished the reason, as we 
think. We can discern it in the signs of the times. 
They will be forced there before their conversion, 
and the vast wealth they have (the milk sucked of 
nations — Isa. Ix. 16) will be carried there to make 
Jerusalem beautiful. 

The Jewish slave from Russia will return to 
meet the requirements of capital — Labor. "Give 
up [north], keep not back" (Isa. xliii. 6). Strang- 
ers, too, shall build thereon, for they tore away 
from Jerusalem her walls, and they shall rebuild 
the same (Isa. Ix. 11-15). 

"And thon that know that I the Lord am thy saviour, an(5 
thy redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob" (Isa. Ix. 16). 

"0 Israel, thou are not forgotten to me" (Isa. xliv. 21). 



190 A Look Through the 

Here Israel will accept Christ. The evidences 
hitherto adduced will bring about their conver- 
sion. Jerusalem, over which Jesus wept, will pre- 
pare herself to say, "Blessed is he that cometh 
in the name of the Lord," for Jesus will appear 
again. 

"The Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in 
Israel" (Isa. xliv. 23). 

"Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments 
from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, marching 
in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteous- 
ness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine ap- 
parel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine- 
fat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the peoples 
there was no man with me: yea, I trod them in mine anger, 
and trampled them in my fury; and their lifeblood is 
sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my rai- 
ment. For the day of vengeance was in mine heart, and the 
year of my redeemed is come. And I looked, and there was 
none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: 
therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my 
fury, it upheld me. And I trod down the peoples in mine 
anger, and made them drunk in my fury, and I poured out 
their lifeblood on the earth" (Isa. Ixiii. 1-7). 

And so Scripture may be added to Scripture 
to show God's mercy upon the Jewish family. 
But sufficient is here given as an index to this 
divine favor, and to show that the Jewish "indig- 
nation" will soon be passed over. 

As was fully shown by Nebuchadnezzar's dream 
of the great image — whose head was of gold, his 
breast and arms of silver, his belly and thighs of 
brass, his legs of iron, his feet and toes of iron, 
mingled with miry clay — there are now remaining 



Lens of Prophecy. 191 

but one foot and the ten toes, representative of the 
ecclesiastic influence, and the ten European states. 

All these lose supremacy when the times of the 
Gentiles are fulfilled, at which time Jewish su- 
premacy will be restored. The wealth of all will 
then pour into Jerusalem, and it will be made 
glorious. The head of gold, and the image of Gen- 
tile rule must bow before the oncoming events; 
shattered and dissolved, its strength will be given 
to the reorganized and established race of Israel. 

The Jew will be gloriously and abundantly 
saved, while the Gentile world is heedlessly for- 
feiting its season of grace. Soon the curtain will 
fall, and the scroll of our history will be full, and 
our modern civilization will be cut off. "And so 
all Israel shall be saved." 

NOTE. 

As the term "Gentile" has been generally employed, it 
may seem to cover all people but the Jews. But not so. In 
the sense we wish to use it, it embodies only the Gentiles of 
modern supremacy, beginning with the Greeks, the succession 
of empires from the Greek supremacy, all of which have had 
the gospel in custody. To be sure, Greece had declined, and 
Rome was in supremacy at the time of Christ, yet Greece was 
in the line of the gospel's conquest. It was her language that 
recorded the gospel for us, and her seed were made acquainted 
with the grace of its message. The whole discussion is one 
of opportunity. All east of Palestine will be subjects of evan- 
gelization, as also Ethiopia. If the ten tribes were 
lost — since many did not return from Babylon — then their 
seed commingled in the blood of Oriental people, we have no 
doubt. "Bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from 
the west" (Isa. xliii. 5). At least, we see no other reasonable 
hypothesis. Many of the Jews, in fact, did not return from 



192 The Lens of Prophecy. 

Babylon. Those who elected to honor God and the memory of 
Jerusalem will have the honor of first place in its rehabilita- 
tion. But, with Jewish evangelization, all heathendom will be 
reclaimed. The time of their opportunity will be with the 
Jewish evangelization. The church, too, will share in the 
glories of redeemed Israel. Vv^'e will form one people. The 
redeemed of the Lord shall come to Zion (Isa. li. 11). Those 
who have rejected opportunity and the favors of gospel grace, 
will be cut off and can not enter into the new order of 
righteousness and peace — Christ's beautiful empire of holi- 
ness and love, over which he will preside as the long-desired 
Sovereign, to bless the world with equity, judgment and 
truth. 

THE END. 



JAN 7 1904 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: June 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Onve 
Cranberry Townsh*. PA 16066 

1724)779-2111 



